Atelier Lili, girl of Arland
by B-rabbit28
Summary: Liliana Amara is a young girl who lives in Arland. After moving to a small fishing town, she meets a young girl name Totori. When a sudden event happens to the two girls, what will happen in their lives?
1. Meeting a weird lady

B-Rabbit28: Hi everyone, hows it been? I have decided to do a new story based on a wonderful game series. This series is based on alchemy in a fantasy land made by the company NisAmerica. The story may have some gaps in it due to reason that the game is mostly a venture out and find out for yourself. This is a wonderful game company with their art and design as well as game plot. But, don't take my word for it, go see for yourself if you don't know about it. This story will also have a OC in it which will make this story mostly 1st POV. Now to get this story started, I don't own anything except for my OC who you guys will meet right now.

* * *

**Prologue: The day that changed everything  
**

A journal lies on top of a oak desk with a oil lamp next to the book. A gust blew from a nearby window making the book cover open to the first page. In the page, has small writing that was written by the owner of the book.

_Hello Journal, _

_Since I have just received you, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Liliana Amara, but the people in town just call me Lili. I am a 11 year old girl living in a small town in the land of Arland called Alanya. I used to live in Arland before my family wanted us to move. Lately, alchemy have been getting popular in Arland and eventually became a republic. While living in this town, I have met two new friends while living here. One of them is Totooria Helmond, or Totori for short, who introduced herself to me when my family first came into this small fishing town. While here, Totori also introduced me to my second friend named Gino Knab who was a swordsman in the town. Ever since I moved here, there wasn't a day when I wasn't with these fun friends. The most interesting thing that has happened in this town was when me and Totori were walking around town._

* * *

"I still can't believe you tripped over a root when there were no trees around." Totori said with a hint of laughter.

"It's not my fault!" I exclaimed. "I was just walking and then I tripped over it."

Me and Totori were walking around the town talking about whats been going around. Gino was busy with his training so he wasn't here to hang out with us. As we were walking, Totori stopped walking which made me look back at her.

"Huh, Totori? Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing, Lili." She said. "Hey Lili, want to visit my Papa?"

"Huh? Sure.." I said wondering about the sudden decision.

So we began walking towards Totori's house when we suddenly see someone on the doorstep.

"Totori..." I said wondering.

"Yes, Lili..." She said the same.

"Were you expecting someone?" I asked looking at her.

"No...I though you were." She said doing the same.

We looked at each other for a second before looking back at the person on the ground. We just stood there for a second before running over to the person.

"Ah! Is she dead Totori!" I asked shocked.

"I-I don't think so!" She said scared.

"I think we need to take her in." I said calming down.

I walked towards the lady and tried to carry her, but being at least 10 years old and a girl, I could only lift an arm.

"Um Lili..." Totori said looking at me. "I think we need help from someone older to carry her."

"But who can carry her, your dad is out at the port fishing." I said placing the arm back down.

"I think Ceci is at home today." Totori said heading to the door.

Totori knocked on the door yelling out for her sister.

"Ceci! Ceci!" Totori yelled out.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" A voice said from the other side.

"There's some weird person collapsed in front of our house." Totori explained.

"It's not a weird person, its a pink hair lady on the floor." I added.

"Collapsed? Weird pink hair person?" Ceci asked from the other side.

"Yes. She has a weird stick." Totori said.

"She also has a weird hat." I added.

"She's just plain weird!" Me and Totori both exclaimed.

"I think the lady has no energy to move." I said looking at her. "I think she needs food and water."

"I-I don't really understand it, but let's bring her inside for now. Help me get her in Totori, Lili." Ceci said coming out and picking up the lady.

While she got one arm, I got the other arm while Totori helped carry the legs from being dragged. When we brought her in, Ceci automatically went towards the kitchen to make the strange lady some food. As Ceci began cooking, me and Totori sat nearby the strange lady and looked over at her.

"She really looks weird, huh?" I said looking at the sleeping lady.

"She really does." Totori said doing the same thing.

Ceci soon came out with many plates of food and drinks. Since the lady was too tired to move, Ceci gave the lady her food. But, as soon as Ceci gave her food, the lady sat straight up and began eating all of the plates that were on the table. Her eating was so fast, at least 2/3 of the plates have been emptied out.

"You should slow down. There's plenty more where that came from." Ceci said with concern.

"Thank you very much!" The lady began saying. "If you didn't help me, I could've died back there."

"We can talk when you're done eating." Ceci said looking at the lady.

"The food was great!" The lady said happily. "I don't know how to thank you!"

"So, who are you?" Totori asked with wonder.

"What do you do?" I added with the same wonder.

"Hey, now." Ceci scolded. "You two don't be rude and pushy."

"Hehe, it's okay." The lady said. "I'm an alchemist traveling the country to teach alchemy to everyone."

"Alchemy?" Me and Totori wondered.

"I guess it's hard to explain." Rorona said standing up. "I know! Do you have a cauldron I could borrow? The biggest one you have."

"A cauldron?" Ceci wondered. "I think there's one in our storage we don't use anymore."

"Can you let me use it?" Rorona asked. "I want to make something for you as thanks. It'll be easier to explain that way."

"What?" Ceci wondered.

Ceci just ignored it and began escorting Rorona to the storage where the cauldron is with me and Totori following behind. When we got there, we see a big pot in the center of the room.

"There we go." Ceci said showing the pot. "So is this what you need?"

"Yes. It's almost too perfect! Off I go." Rorona said walking towards the pot. "Also, um, can you leave me alone until I'm through? I get so nervous when people I don't know are watching."

"Sure, we don't mind." Ceci said walking to us. "Let's go over there, Totori, Lili."

"Sure..." Totori said walking with Ceci.

"Okay..." I said following from behind.

We all walked out from the storage and left Rorona to do what she needs to. When we got back to the main house, Ceci looked concern.

"I guess she didn't look dangerous." Ceci said. "Still, why does she need a cauldron?"

While she was talking, Totori grabbed my hand and we silently walked away from Ceci.

"Okay. Let's go somewhere until she's done..." Ceci said turning around. "Totori? Lili? Where did they go?"

Back with Rorona, she was stirring the pot with a big ladle. She was humming a song as she was stirring.

"I haven't mixed something in a cauldron for such a long time." Rorona said happily.

"Mixing?" Totori asked popping up.

"Is that all you are doing in the cauldron?" I added doing the same.

"Hehe. It may look like that's it, but there's more to it. This is called synthesis and..." Rorona explained before turning around looking at us surprised. ""Ahh! Why're you here?!"

"We're sorry." I said apologetic.

"You looked like you were having a lot of fun, so..." Totori added.

"Well it's fun..." Rorona said before looking back at the mixture. "Oh, hold on. This is where it gets kind of hard."

"I want to try." Totori said walking up. "Can I help?"

"You could, but..." Rorona said with concern.

Suddenly, a shine came from the pot blinding everyone in the room for a second.

"Wow, it's shining..." Totori said getting close to the cauldron.

"Is that what you were trying to make?" I asked getting close also.

"What? Shining? Oh no! Get away!" Rorona exclaimed.

"It's pretty..." Totori said in awe.

"I think we should back, Totori." I told her with concern.

"Ahhh! There's no time...Run!" Rorona yelled out with concern.

"That why we have to go, Totori!" I exclaim trying to pull her away.

"Huh?" Totori said confused.

But it was too late as the shiny thing grew and eventually became something huge which exploded. After that explosion, the whole building was wreaked and it was down to debris.

"Oh dear, we are in trouble now..." I said looking around.

"I wonder what Ceci will say about this?" Totori wondered.

Her question was soon answered as Ceci came into the room.

"AH! What happen in here!" Ceci asked shocked. "Totori! Lili! RORONA!"


	2. Two years after

**Chapter 2: Two years after**

_Hello Journal,_

_It has been two years since that incident with Rorona and Totori and boy has a lot happen since. Ever since Totori saw that shine in the cauldron, she now wants to become an alchemist just like Rorona who became her teacher. Ever since Rorona came over to our town, she's been visiting often in order to teach Totori alchemy since there was no one else to go to. As for me, I have been listening to Rorona all about her adventures with her friends that she met at Arland. She told me how her friends would always be there for her no matter what. Hearing these stories made me want to help out Totori in her adventure. At the same time Totori became an alchemist, I was figuring out a way to help out Totori in her adventure. After a few days, I found something in the attic which I can use to help out Totori. In the attic was a box that had inside two duel swords, but the interesting thing about the swords was that there was a switch that could turn the swords into blade whips. When I showed the swords to my parents, they explained that the swords used to belong to my aunt who used to be a traveler researching things that no one knows about yet. However, she __find love and has stopped her travels to help her boyfriend in Arland, which is weird since my parents never took me to see her.__ After hearing what happened to my aunt, I had decided to continue my aunt's research and travel around filling her journal with many facts that she had yet to discover. My mother said that my aunt lives in Arland and that one day I should go visit her and I will. But, I never knew how to use swords so I was in a slump thinking about how to train. That was where Gino came in and began training me on how to fight with swords. Since then, I have became used to fighting with swords and began writing about what has happen into my aunt's journal. Well I guess that basically explains what has happened lately, better go find Totori, bye journal. _

* * *

The girl writing the journal soon placed down her quill and closed the cover of the journal. The girl writing in the journal has matured since the last time we saw her. She was now a 4'9 girl who has wavy black hair reaching her shoulders and a bit of her hair was braided. She was wearing a cream color tank top that had a military jacket over it, she also started to wear shorts in order to fight with no difficulty and combat boots. She also had a belt around her waist in order to place her weapons somewhere.

"Ah...I think that's it for today." The girl said getting up from her seat.

She grabbed her belt of weapons, put them on, and walked downstairs to be greeted with a nice smelling breakfast.

"Good morning..." the girl said heading towards the table.

The person cooking turned around and see the sight of the young girl going to the table.

"Oh! Good morning, Lili." The person said looking back at her cooking.

"What are you cooking, Ceci?" Lili asked.

A year after Rorona came, Lili's parents got a message from someone to go far away to look into something. However, there hasn't been any message from Lili's parents since they left and that worries Lili. Ever since they left, Guid and Ceci offered to have Lili stay with them until her parents come back which she accepted. From there, Lili would see the Helmold family everyday and the family would always see her.

"Oh just the usual waffles and breakfast." Ceci said bringing the food over.

"Yay, your cooking's the best, Ceci." I said taking some waffles.

"Aw thank you, Lili." Ceci said sitting down at the table.

We both soon sat down and began to eat our breakfast. But, we stop when we both shivered at the same time.

"D-Did you just feel a breeze..." Lili asked.

"Y-Yeah, did you also feel that?" Ceci asked after.

Lili just nodded at what she told her and looked at Ceci with worried. Suddenly, they heard a scream and an explosion from next door. Hearing that, Ceci and Lili stood straight up and headed next door to the noise.

"Oh no, not again!" Lili said as she was walking to door.

* * *

**Lili's POV**

When me and Lili went through the door, there was a burst of smoke coming from the room and inside it was Totori holding onto two chemical glasses coughing from the smoke.

"Totori!" I exclaimed worried.

"Ugh...I did it again...Where did I go wrong this time?" Totori said looking at what she did.

"Totori, are you okay?" Ceci asked with concern.

"Oh, Ceci, Lili..." Totori said looking over at us.

"Look at you. Your face is black with ash . Are you hurt? Did you get burnt?" Ceci asked with concern.

"I-I's okay, really." Totori told Ceci.

Ceci and I began to walk towards to Totori looking around the room.

"Wow, at least you didn't blow up the room like last time." I said looking around the room.

"Lili!" Ceci said looking at me seriously.

"Sorry, sorry. Just saying." I said a bit scared.

Ceci just looked at me before looking back at her sister.

"That's a relief...GEEZ!" Ceci said with annoyance. "How many times do you intend to blow up our house?!"

"I don't think that's what you should be asking." I said with a sweat mark.

"It's not like I'm creating explosions on purpose..." Totori said lowering her stance. "It's not my fault, honest...I'm doing everything my teacher showed me."

"So you say, but who do you think has to clean up your mess?" Ceci asked with annoyance.

"You do." Totori said straight on.

"I-I don't think you were suppose to say it like that, Totori." I said looking over at Ceci with worry.

"I see how it is. You know exactly what kind of trouble you create, but you cause explosions to see me suffer." Ceci said with a very scary aura behind her.

"I...No...I didn't...B-But..." Totori tried to say.

"I'm mad at you now! No escaping now! Sit your butt on the floor, now!" Ceci demanded.

"I-I just remembered I have something to do with Lili that's important! B-Bye!" Totori exclaimed with panic.

She soon ran over to me and took my hand escaping through the door. Looking back, I can see a very furious Ceci looking at us.

"Hey! Get back here!" Ceci demanded.

But being scared of her sister, Totori ignored it and continued to dragged me til we got outside. When we got out, we automatically bend down in our state of being tired.

"I made her mad again. I better apologize to her later." Totori said with worry.

"I think that's the best thing to do." I said standing straight up. "But, do you really have something to do, Totori?"

"No, Lili." Totori said standing up. "I better think of something to do."

Totori just stood there think while I was looking up at the sky.

'Just a normal day with Totori.' I thought looking up.

"I got it!" Totori suddenly said. "I'll go out to find material."

"That's a good idea, Totori." I said looking over at her. "Since that huge explosion you just had destroyed all of your material."

"Don't remind me, Lili." Totori said with disappointment. "You're coming with me, right?"

"Of course." I said with a grin. "If I go explore with you, I can fill up this journal in seconds."

"Okay, then let's go." Totori said walking off.

When she walked off, I walked over next to her and began talking to her. We began talking about how things are going and what's been going on. By the time we stopped talking, we arrived into town.

"Hey. What're you two doin' here?" A voice asked.

We both turned around to see the view of our friend Gino Knob.

"Good morning, Gino." I greeted.

"Oh, hello Gino. Lili and I were just gonna go get some more alchemy materials." Totori explained.

"Materials? Didn't you just go gathering the other day?" Gino asked. "Don't tell me..."

"She did, another batch of materials down the drain." I said finishing the explanation.

"N-No, I didn't do that. I didn't blow them up." Totori said a bit embarrassed. "They exploded on their own!"

"Um...That's the same thing." I pointed out.

"She's right, ya know." Gino added. "Anyway, I'll go with you guys. I don't have much to do."

"Really? Thanks a bunch." Totori said with joy.

"Now we have twice the man power." I said grinly. "With Gino and my sword skills, we are able to protect Totori from the monsters."

"That's right Lili!" Gino said. "Let's go beat up some monsters!" I can't wait!"

"Um, we're gathering material, y'know" Totori said slumping her shoulders.

Totori got over it and we began walking again, but not before we go around town saying hi to everyone. Gino decided to stay outside and wait while we go see everyone. When me and Totori went into one store, it was like a antique shop with a lot of teddy bears all around.

"I always love coming to this shop to see all this." I said looking around the shop.

"Hi, Miss Pamela!" Totori greeted.

When I heard a thud, I turned around to see that the store owner was coming through her door. The owner of this store is Pamela Ibis who came from Arland just like Rorona, but no one really knows a lot about her.

"Ugh. That hurts..." Pamela said with pain.

"Are you okay, Pamela." I asked with concern.

"No. I'm not okay! I bashed my nose against the wall..." Pamela said with pain in her voice.

"Again?" I asked looking at her.

"Didn't that happen to you yesterday?" Totori asked.

"You know what they say...Old habits die hard..." Pamela said with a sigh.

"Habit?" Totori wondered.

"Oh nothing. Also, I asked you to stop calling me "Miss" Pamela!" Pamela said to Totori.

"Sorry Pamela, but Totori is really used to calling you that." I said looking over at Pamela.

"Totori, if you insist on being such a stiff, I won't sell you anything!" Pamela said sternly.

"P-Please don't make that threat! Fine, if you insist, Miss Pamela...I mean, P-Pamela..." Totori said stuttering.

"Oh dear." I said trying not to laugh. "I think Totori is having a hard time saying it."

"Well, she'll have to get used to it. Do you know how many years it's been since I moved to this village?" Pamela said with a bit of sadness.

"Has it been that long?" Totori wondered.

"You better be careful!" Pamela exclaimed. "If you call me "Miss" again, I'll start calling you Mistress Totori or Madame Totori!"

"Woah! That sounds so weird..." I said weirded out.

"That does sound weird!" Totori said. "Please don't! I'll be sure to address you how you want for now on!"

After that conversation, Totori made sure to call Pamela by Pamela for now on. After talking with Pamela, we headed off to say hi to the next person with Gino this time since he knew where we were going next. When we went into the building, we see behind the counter a tall bulky man washing a glass cup. That guy was the owner of the bar called Gerhard Konev. Even if this is a bar, it was okay since Gerhard knew not to give us anything not in our age limit. We all walked over to the counter and said hi to the man.

"Good morning, Gerhard. "I said to the man.

"Hiya, Gerhard." Totori added.

"Hm? Oh you three. What's up?" Gerhard asked. "You don't look thrilled. Did Ceci yell at you again?"

"You got it right, Gerhard." I said jokily.

"H-How did you know?" Totori asked in shock.

"I heard an explosion earlier. It's good you're eager to learn, but don't destroy your home." Gerhard explained.

"Okay..." Totori said sadly.

"Did you need something? You here to drink your problems away?" Gerhard asked.

"Gerhard!" I yelled out shocked. "Totori is too young to drink as well as the rest of us!"

"Beside we are just dropping by." Totori added.

"A tavern's no place for kids, you know?" Gerhard asked concern.

"Oh who cares about that? It's not like you have any real customers to tend." Gino said happily.

"Don't be so direct about it." Gerhard said. "It's not a laughing matter to me, though I do have another job lined up."

"Don't tell me that you're going to close down this place, Gerhard!" I exclaimed worried.

"No, it's nothing like that." Gerhard said calmly. "I suppose it wouldn't matter to you three. Then again, I just might need your help, Totori."

"What kind of help?" Totori asked.

"Hmm. I may as well decide this now." Gerhard began to say. "Sorry to be such a bother, but can you come again tomorrow? I can explain the details then."

"Tomorrow? Sure,I don't mind, I guess." Totori said calmly.

"Thank you. Now be on your way. I've got to prepare for something." Gerhard said before heading to the side of the counter.

"What could it be? Is it really something I can help him with?" Totori asked with concern.

"It might be." I said answering Totori's answer. "I mean Gerhard asking you for something might be simple."

"It's probably some easy chore if he says even you can help him." Gino added.

"I guess, but I don't think I'm supposed to like agreeing with you guys about that..." Totori said with spirits down.

After saying that, we all headed back outside to greet the other people we know in town. When we left the bar, we see a guy in front of a wagon waxing the fron wheel.

"Hiya Peter." Totori said to the man.

The man stood up upon hearing Totori's voice and turned around. This guy was the coach driver named Peter Rietz who was a very easy going guy.

"Hey kids. Going out together again?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. We're going to beat up some of the monsters of the monsters in the area!" Gino said excited.

"Gino, we are going out to help Totori." I said correcting the blond swords man.

"Right Gino, we are going out to get more material." Totori added.

"You three always seem so close." Peter said. "But still, be careful out there. I heard some dangerous monsters started appearing nearby."

"R-Really? What should I do?" Totori asked concern. Maybe I shouldn't go after all..."

"It's okay Totori." I said patting her on the back. "With me and Gino around, we will protect you from all those monsters."

"She's right Totori, also it won't be fun unless there's a bit of danger." Gino added.

"Wait, if you're going out, does that mean...Ceci is home, all by herself?" Peter asked.

"I dunno, I think dad was there, but maybe he wasn't..." Totori said wondering about it.

"I don't think it even mattered wheather your dad was there or not. Okay, I'll just creep on by later and..." Peter said with red on his face.

"Maybe you shouldn't today..." Totori began saying.

"When me and Totori left the house, Ceci was really mad." I said finishing her sentence.

"She's mad?" Peter asked.

"Totori had another explosion at the workshop and now poor Ceci is stuck there cleaning up."I said dramatically with my hands clutch together.

"Totori again. Oh well, I'll hold off the visit for later." Peter said with a bit of sadness.

"You always look for an excuse not to go." Gino said.

"Th-That's not true!" Peter exclaimed shocked. "It just so happens it's always horrible timing! Beside, adults know what the considerate course of action is."

"Something like that is what people call a pervert!" I yelled out.

After that, Peter just looked at me in shock.

"E-Eh!" Peter exclaimed shock.

"Really Lili?" Gino asked. "Mom said that people like that are called pansy."

"P-Pansy!" Peter exclaimed looking at Gino.

"I don't really know what that means, but it really rolls off the tongue. Pansy." Gino explained. "I think I'll call you Pansy for now on, like a nickname."

"Me too, but I'll call you pervert instead." I said happily.

All Peter did was look at us in shock after what me and Gino both said.

"Are you okay, pervert?" I asked concern.

"Something the matter, pansy?" Gino asked the same.

"M-Maybe you two should quit it...He looks like he's frozen in shock." Totori told us concern.

"Why? What's so shocking about me and Lili giving him a nickname?" Gino asked.

"Geez. Come on you two, let's go, okay?" Totori said rushing us.

She grabbed me and Gino's hands and dragged us away from the frozen man. After experiencing that, we began our journey to get some material for Totori.


	3. Gathering materials

B-Rabbit28: Hi everyone, been a while right. Sorry, my computer is still broken so I am unable to type as often. I was able to do this chapter because I want to try it on something like this. If it doesn't seem right, then I will wait until I get my computer. A lot has happened since I last wrote, but that's not what you guys are here for. Remember, I don't own anything except for my OC. ^^

* * *

After meeting up with pervert, A.k.a Peter, our group of three decided that its time to head off into the wild to get some material for Totori.

"Where should we go today?" Totori looked onto a map.

"There are a lot of places to go to, but I think the best place would be nurse grove." Lili pointed in the map.

"Nurse grove?"

"Yeah, nurse grove should be good. There ought to be lots of monsters there." Gino said.

So it was decided that we would go to the grove to get today's materials. As we walked, Gino was looking around for the monsters while I walked next to Totori.

"Now then, where are the monsters?" Gino looked around with gleam.

However, that was not what we are suppose to be doing, so to knock some sense into him, I punched him in the head.

**THWARK!**

"Oww, what was that for Lili?!" Gino held his head with pain.

"Remember what we are here for, it's not for battling monsters, but we're here to get alchemy materials for Totori." I explained. "Seriously is the only thing you think about is fighting monsters."

"Of not Lili, beside you can loot the monster's bodies too!"

"You make it sound gross, but I guess." Totori spoke up.

"Then what's the downside?! Let's go already!" Gino ran off before we could even call out to him.

When I looked over to Totori, she looked a bit concerned. "But I'm not really built to fight..."

I heard what she said and placed a hand on her shoulder making her look at me. "It's okay, Totori. I'm not that built either, but I have someway of fighting, I'm sure that you'll be just fine."

Totori looked a bit nervous but at least she calmed down. When she was ready, me and Totori head off to catch up with Gino who should be ahead of us by now. As we caught up to Gino, we encountered a monster already. The monster was brown and small and spun a barrel. Although it looked weak, looks can be deceiving.

As we stood in straight formation, the monster attacked first throwing its barrel and Gino landing a bit of damage towards him. Gino was able to land a slash attack towards it, but it didn't do that much damage. I was next and I also did a slash attack towards it, but also failed. When it was Totori's turn, she hit the monster with her staff which like the rest of us fail to hurt it a lot. The monster grabbed another barrel and threw it at me this time, I was too slow so I took the hit.

In the end, Gino landed a single hit on the monster and killed it. After the battle, Totori was able to search the monster to find a ripe nuse which was a spikey ball which can be used as a throwing weapon.

When the battle was over, Totori was crouching down as if she was tired, which she was.

"Huff...Huff...Ugh..." Totori soon after looked so tired and sick after.

"Totori, are you okay?" I patted her on the back for comfort.

"Why do you look like you're dying and about to vomit even though we won?" Gino asked.

"Of course it's because she's tired, Gino." I smacked him in the head again. "Man, remember Totori is not used to fighting."

"W-Why haven't you two broken a sweat...?" Totori asked tiredly.

"That's because we both train everyday. This is nothing!" Gino exclaimed. "I want to become the best adventurer in the entire nation!"

"I have to break it Totori, but he's right." I placed my hands on my waist proud. "But I want to be an adventurer so I can fill in my aunts notebook and travel to places she had yet to see."

"An adventurer..." Totori looked dazed about that.

"Okay! My goal today is to beat up one hundred monsters! Let's do this! Yeah!" Gino exclaimed proudly.

"IDIOT!" I punched him in the head again. "If we even try to battle one hundred, Totori may just faint at even two!"

"Owwww, man Lili it's okay." Gino looked at me. "Totori will be fine...probably. Now let's go!"

Gino had yet again left us behind to go battle monsters. Man, isn't the reason why we're out here so we can help Totori. I looked over at her and see that she has caught her breath.

"Totori..." She looked at me. "You know that eventually this will have to be an everyday thing for you. If you can't handle this, then it may be hard for you to become an adventurer."

"I know, but with you guys with me, I think I'll be just fine." Totori calmly said.

After saying that, we both left tour spot so we can catch up the fight crazy boy. Oh that reminded me, you guys don't know what adventurers are huh? Well, an adventurer is a person who can get a license to explore from the capital and are able to defeat monsters. They can also explore places no one else has ever visited and map them. The Arland republic is a new country. The king of Arland got with all the surrounding towns and founded it. Back then, the maps were sloppy messes. When they gathered to discuss, monsters attacked and it turned into a big deal. The job title 'adventurer' was created in response to that event.

At first, there weren't that many, but they're growing every year. Some people have licenses but don't actually work. If I remember, Totori's mom was part of the first group of people who became adventurers. She was considered unbeatable in the village and went on to become a very famous adventurer. But I heard from Totori that her mom hasn't been home in years. No one has seen or heard of her since. Totori says that her sister and dad get sad whenever they talk about her mom, but she thinks that she's doing fine somewhere. The reason why Totori wants to so badly become a adventurer is so she can go look for her mom one day.

After thinking that, Gino for some reason called out to us.

"Man, what happened to him this time." I shook my head in grief knowing he got himself in trouble again.

"Okay...Wait, what's going on?!" Totori called out shocked.

When I looked over, I noticed that Gino is in big trouble this time. Man we leave him alone for a few minutes and look, four more of those barrel spinning monsters were crowding around him.

"Man, Gino what did you do this time!" I shaked my fist at him with anger.

"I think I picked fights with just a few too many at once. Help!" Gino called out.

"I-I can't! I can't..." Totori soon after began to cry.

"Hey! You made Totori cry, after I beat up the barrel monsters, you're next!" I ran over to help Gino leaving Totori there to cry. I could comfort her, but if I don't beat the monsters up, then they may go after Totori.

* * *

After beating up the monsters, I was able to also get a hit towards Gino and walked up to Totori and continued our quest to gather materials for her alchemy. As we gathered materials, we noticed that most things here were nuses and and a couple of bee hives. When we were done gathering in this area, Gino was about to walk further till I grabbed him by the collar.

"Stop Gino, don't go any further." I told him.

"What, why not?"

"Look." I took his collar and pulled it so he would face the sign next to the path. When he began reading it, I let go of his collar so he can relax.

The sign said: **Danger. Do not enter unless you are an adventurer.**

"Oh, right. We have to get adventurer licenses or else we can't explore very far." Gino explained. "Not like they can see us. Let's check it out."

"We can't. The sign says its dangerous." Totori said sternly.

"Fine. Once I'm an adventurer, I'm gonna check this place out first." Gino said smugly.

Since we couldn't go very far, we just stayed at nurse grove and continued gather materials here. When we were done, we headed back to town after a long days work. When we go inside of town, Totori was holding her knees yet again with tiredness.

"Okay, I'm done training for today!" Gino grinned with please.

"I'm so tired...I can't take another step..." Totori began to crouch.

"Come on. I know you can do better. Let's go tomorrow bright and early. I'll train you with Lili while I'm at it."

"Gino, she just went to grab some material, I don't think she's be exploring until she runs out again." I patted Totori on the back to comfort her.

"It's okay, it'll be during me and Lili's personal training session so it's no trouble." Gino soon ran off. "See you guys tomorrow!"

"H-Hey! Wait! He never listens to me." Totori said.

"It's okay, Totori." I shook my head with my hand. "He never listens to anyone at times."

I looked over to her and see her in a daze look. I was able to hear what she was dazed about.

"An adventurer huh...? I wanna be one too, but I'm not athletic or strong enough." She looked down a bit crestfallen. "If I do become one, I'll gather all sorts of items, make all kinds of stuff, and go find mom."

I smiled hearing her goals as she talked to herself. Although she says those things, she has one thing that will keep her going to become an adventurer, determination.

"Lili, we should probably go home..." Totori stood in front of me.

"O-Oh of course." I got out of my thoughts. "Lets just hope your sister isn't mad anymore."

We both began to walk back home and soon entered the main house on the side of the alchemy room.

"We're home." Totori called out.

When we looked around, no one was there to greet us.

"Huh, where is everyone?" I looked around the room.

"Ceci, are you here? Did you go to bed already?" Totori tilted her head in confusion.

"Welcome home. Where were you two all this time." A voice said from behind.

We both turned to see that the voice came from Totori's dad Mr. Guid Helmond. He was sitting at the table staring at us from behind.

"D-Dad. I didn't see you there..." Totori held her hands near her face with shock.

"I also didn't notice, wow how sudden!" I looked at him with wide eyes.

"You two are pretty cruel. I've been sitting here since this morning." Guid explained.

"Sorry to say this , but you have a small presence that you can be easy to miss." I tilted my head down with embarrassment.

"Oh yeah! Where's Cecil? Is she still mad?" Totori wondered.

"I guess she was a tad peeved. Especially about how the dinner she made just for you two went cold." Guid explained.

"Bad, we let the food she made for us cold." I held my head in my hands. "She must be mad at us this time again."

"Oh, were we having fish pie tonight?" Totori wondered.

"Yeah, she made Totori's favorite. I think she wanted to make up too."

"I'll apologize to her tomorrow..." Totori said.

"Yeah, me too." I added.

"Good girls. Eat your dinner and go to sleep. It's way past your bedtimes."

"Okay...Oh yeah. Dad, um dad?" Totori called out.

But when we looked over to where he was at, he was already gone.

"Totori, your dad really does have a low presence." I looked over to where her dad sat at before looking over to her.

"I wanted to listen to his stories about mom..." Totori said.

"It's okay Totori, maybe tomorrow. But right now, let's finish our food and sleep." I walked over to the table and waited for her to come over. When we were both done eating, we placed the dishes into the sink and went straight to sleep.

* * *

After sleeping for a night, I finally got up and and put on my clothes and swords for the day. After getting ready, I headed down and went next door to the alchemy room. When I opened the door, there I saw Totori at the cauldron already beginning to synthesis something.

"Good morning, Totori." I called out.

"O-oh good morning Lili." She said as she looked at the cauldron.

"What are you making today?"

"I was thinking of making a healing salve from the materials we got yesterday." She looked through her chest of materials. "This should be easy!"

As she began getting ready, I just sat at the sofa nearby watching her getting ready. She took out the materials magic grass, mandra root, and a bucket of water and began the synthesis. It took about a day, but she was able to successfully create the healing salve.

"Yay! I did it!" Totori clapped her hands with gleam.

I jumped up from my seat and patted her on the back. "Good job, Totori!"

"Phew. You didn't mess up today." A voice said.

Me and Totori turned to see Totori's sister Ceci standing nearby us.

"Hello Ceci, came to see Totori." I said to her.

"I was going to stop Totori before she caused another explosion, if need be." She explained.

"I-I don't make mistakes like that everyday, y'know. I'm following my teacher's method." Totori explained.

"Really? You said that yesterday too." Ceci replied.

This is starting to look a bit bad, so while they're talking, I snuck out without them knowing. I just stood outside with my arms behind my head looking at the sky. As I looked up, I smiled remembering when Rorona was here teaching Totori how to make things in the may have sounded weird, but it helped Totori learn how to synthesis.

I looked at the notebook that I took out of my back pocket and remembered my goal as to why I wanted to be an adventurer. I actually kind of hope to one day find my aunt and ask her about this journal. I still remember that my aunt was somewhere over at the main capital at Arland. If I ever get to go there, I want to find my aunt too and ask her about her travels. Knowing that Totori and Ceci will be there for a while, I just left them be and headed to town and go train with Gino.


	4. Chapter 4

After leaving the two sisters to have their moment, I left the house and began walking down the hill towards town. When I arrived in town, I just walked over to the center tree and sat on one of the benches. I looked up at the sky with a dazed look before looking down and letting out a breath.

"I'm so bored~" I said.

I just looked at the passing townspeople with a bored look and I wonder. 'What are the people up in Arland like? Are they a bit snobby since they are highly technical? I wonder...~'

As I thought about Arland, I thought back to my aunt making me turn to interest and began looking through my mini knapsack that I keep around my waist until I take out a small book with a golden lining. On the book cover were golden letter with the inscription:

_Alana Marigold_

I opened the book and began flipping through the pages of my aunt's book until I got to the last page that has writing since the pages after that were all blank. As I turn the recent entry, I began reading what my aunt has written.u

_Finally, I have finally moved into my boyfriend's house. It took a while seeing as how I lived a bit far from him, but it will all be worth it to see him all the time now. My room is a bit small so I had to discard most of my books that I kept and finally led to having only about three or four left. The reason why I'm writing in this journal after a while is because, this is the last time I'll be using it. This journal was used for me to research and place in anything I find in my travels which I have succeeded in by filling most of the journal. But, as the days go on by and I leave to travel, the look on my boyfriend began to darken and sadden as the days go on by. One day, as I was about to leave for my weekly travel, my boyfriend hugged me from behind and I felt something wet land on my neck, his tears...He couldn't take it not being able to spend time with each other and he broke down. Seeing him like this...upset me, the one I love and yet I didn't notice him being like this. After that, I began thinking about what should I do, and then I decided, I will stop all travels and research and reside in Arland with my love. When I told him about my decision, he got a bit upset since it was selfish, but after talking about it with him a bit more, he gave in. I used to be a shy and alone person who bury herself in her books and research, but he was the one who led me to a new path with light and friends, I didn't want to give that up. He even offered for me to stay with him so that we can always see each other, and the best thing about it is that I can be able to visit my best friend and eat so much desserts with her since he lives close by to her. With that said, it is time to say farewell, journal, as I pack you away with all my research and weapons._

_-Alana Marigold._

"Eh~ You have a interesting aunt, Lili."

I shut the journal closed and turned to the voice with a red face. When I turned around, all I saw was Gino with a smug grin on his face. "W-Why were you reading it behind me?!"

"Beside when I called out to you, you didn't reply." Gino jumped over the bench and sat next to me as he held his arms behind his head. "When I came closer, I saw you reading the journal, if you were so interested in it, I might as well take a read."

"Only if me and Totori were so interested in a book you would read it, huh?" I gave him a side glace from behind the journal.

"Basically~" He turned to me with his common grin.

I let out a breath as I placed the journal back into the knapsack. "Idiot~ What would have happen if it was something private?"

"Hey, at least it wasn't!" Gino said. "But, it is still a bit shocking how your aunt gave up all the traveling for a guy."

"It wasn't just some guy, it was someone dear to her heart." I turned to him. "Love can make you do things, no matter what!"

"Okay, okay, basically love is weird~" Gino stood up from his seat and stood in front of me with a hand reached out which I accepted. "I love you~ Which is why I pulled you up~"

"Idiot." I flicked him on the forehead. "It doesn't work like that. It has to be actual love between two people."

"Ow! Even your flicks hurt!" Gino held his forehead in pain. Even though I was shorter than him by half a head, I was still able to land a hit on his forehead.

"Hey~ Gino, Lili~"

We both turned to the voice and saw Totori heading towards up waving her hand.

"Hello Totori, are you and Ceci done talking?" I asked as Totori came close.

"Yeah, we are all good now~" Totori smiled. "But, I wanted to ask if you two wanted to come with me to gather materials at Western Plains?"

"Western plains?" I looked at Totori confused. "Why there specifically?"

"Gerhard given me requests to defeat some Blue Puni and to gather some material for him."

"I see~"

"Then let's wait no further!" Gino took out his sword and began waving it around. "Let's go defeat some monsters!"

And there he goes running to the gate towards the plains, without us. I facepalm from his reaction, then again I should have expected it. "Man, he left us again. Come on Totori, we better catch up with him." I began walking since it's no use running to him.

"Y-Yeah!" Totori stuttered and she ran trying to catch up to my speedy walking.

We were both able to catch up to Gino since he stopped at the side of the town. We all gathered up and began our two day trip to the plains. It was nice to get out of town since all that's there to do there was fish and hang out. Two days after, we all stopped on the road that led to the plains.

"Lili, Gino, let's work hard and save money!" Totori turned to the both of us. "If we work together, I'm sure we can get to Arland!"

"Y-Yeah...You seem really motivated." Gino looked at Totori shocked.

"Is there a reason why you are like this Totori?" I turned to her. "Maybe concerning a certain someone starting with a C~"

"I decided I'm definitely going to become an adventurer. Totori said. "I don't care what stupid Ceci says."

"Of course." I looked at her with a sweat mark.

"Did you two fight again?" Gino asked. "Well, whatever. Any ideas about how to make our fortunes?"

"I think we should just work a lot. Like at Gerhard's place."

"That is a great way to begin Totori." I said before looking to the side. "But..."

"He hardly pays at all. You think you'd be able to save up enough by next month?" Gino asked.

"If we work hard enough, we can..." Totori said before looking back at Gino shocked. "Wait, next month?!"

"Gino, don't tell me you forgot to tell her about the carriage!" I looked at him with wide eyes and began to shake my head. "Man this is why I should tell Totori all these important things!"

"What, why Lili?" Totori came up to me just as I calmed down.

"What Gino is trying to say was that Peter's next carriage ride to Arland is in a month! That is why we need to raise a lot of money by then!" I explained. "Gino, I told you to tell Totori this!"

"Sorry Lili, I guess I forgot~" Gino scratched the back of his head laughing.

"That idiot!" I held a fist to him as he held his arms up for protection.

"If we can't make it by then, when's the next carriage?!" Totori looked at us panicked.

"He said when he felt like it." Gino looked back at Totori holding the back of his head. "Peter is really inconsistent. Who knows when the next one will be."

"R-Really...Hold on." Totori began. "We have to make 100,000 cole by next month?"

"That is a lot of cole to raise in a month, is it even do-able?" I held my chin thinking about it.

"You can't give up before even trying." Gino gave a smile. "Let's just do what we can!"

"O-Okay...But I'm not really sure." Totori slumped her back looking worried.

"Like he said Totori, let's just try to raise that much cole." I patted her on the back. "Who knows, maybe we will be able to raise it."

"What secret meeting are you three having here?!"

We all jumped at the voice and turned behind us to see a red dragon monster standing there.

"Huh? Wahhhhhh! Wh-Wh-What?! What is that thing?!" Totori exclaimed.

"A monster, and a really strong one by the looks of it!" I took a step back and stood in front of Totori with a hand at a hilt ready to attack.

"It's huge! Get away from us!" Gino stood next to me as he says that.

"Heh, heh, heh...I'm going to eat you kiddies right up!" The monster said.

"This is bad..." Gino turned to us. "Hey, we have to run!"

"I'm too scared." Totori's legs began to give in as she falls to the ground shaking. "I-I can't stand up..."

"Totori!" I turned and crouch next to holding her shoulders. "Are you okay?!"

"I'll start off with this delicious looking girl." The dragon began looking at us. "And for the main dish, I'll have a bite of that girl next to her with the swords."

"S-Stop!" Gino ran in front of me and Totori and took out his sword. "I'll never let you lay a finger on Totori and Lili!"

"Noo! I don't want to get eaten up!" Totori began to cry at the thought of getting eaten.

"Hey don't cry Totori!" I began to hug her close to me trying to calm her down. "Don't worry, Gino and I are here to protect you!"

After a while of silence, the monster didn't move and no one spoke.

"Just kidding! Haha! It's me!"

The monster began to move around and was eventually lifted up to the air. Me and Gino looked down at what was carrying the monster to see a women with two ribbons in her hair with greenish eyes.

Totori, who calmed down, placed down my arms, stood up from her shock and looked at the women. When she saw her, Totori's eyes widen and she opened her mouth surprised. "Huh?! Hey! Mel!"

"Mel?!" I looked at the women surprised.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Mel looked over to us. "Did I go too far this time?"

"Y-You gotta be kidding me!" Gino yelled out. "Do you know how much you freaked us out?!"

"Sorry! But you looked cool for a second. _"I'll never let you lay a finger on Totori and Lili!"_" Mel looked over a Gino with a smirk as she says that.

"Sh-Shut up! Who cares about what I said?!" Gino said.

"I didn't say it was bad. Hold on a tick. It's difficult to talk like this." Mel places down the dragon monster with a thump on the ground and stands back up straight. "There we go."

_Melvia Siebel, or in our case Mel, is a senior adventurer from Alanya. She is good friends with Ceci, which is how me and Totori know her so well. Her and Gino were trained under the same person, but Mel has more experience. _

"Phew. That was heavy." Mel wipes the sweat off her forehead before turning to us. "It's not easy to pull such an expert prank, you know."

"Why would you go so far to do that?" Totori asked. "Did you beat that monster all by yourself?"

"Well, I haven't been home in a while, so I wanted to bring home a huge gift." Mel turned to me soon after. "Hey Lili, does your aunt's journal have something like this?"

I blinked at her before scrambling through my pack to find the journal. As I turn to the monster's page, I see that the monster Mel brought was not there. "N-No! What kind of monster is this? No wait! Let me get a pencil out first!"

"Calm down Lili." A pencil is tapped on my face. When I turned around, Gino was behind me holding on to it. "Remember, you gave me so many pencils to carry around so you can write things down easily."

"Right, right." I took the pencil before walking over to the monster and begin to sketch the monster on a blank page. "So, Mel, what kind of monster is it? Is it a dragon cause it seems like it?"

"Well you're wrong about that. This is a lizard type monster called a Salamandra. It's told to be a Lizards that possess the power of fire. They're also known as Fiery Dragons. Don't take them lightly or you might get burned." She explained.

I just nodded at every single word she said and wrote it down next to the picture. After I finished, I stood up and gave the pencil back to Gino. "So what up Mel, came by to visit."

"Of course, I saw you guys on the way and I knew I had to tease you." Mel said. "What are you three doing out here anyway?"

"N-Nothing. Nothing to do with you." Gino said looking over at Mel.

"Oh? Keeping me out of the loop? That makes me kind of sad." Mel begins to cross her arms and her face begins to lower. She then went over to Gino and begins hugging him in depression.

"Hey, get off me!" Gino tried prying her off. "I thought you were on your way to the village! Get going, geez!"

"Oh, right." Mel's face brighten as she takes herself off Gino. "I'll see you three later then. There we go." She picks up the Salamandra over her shoulders and begins her walk back to the town.

As she walks, our group looks at her retreating figure as she carries the monster on her shoulder. "Is she even human?"

"How can she carry that on her own?" Totori asks. "Do all good adventurers have to be strong like her?"

"I don't think that's the point." Gino scratches his head. "Mel has always had barbaric strength."

"I remember one time she hugged me so hard, she lifted me off the ground and spun me around." I begin to remember that memory as I say that.

"I hope she didn't overhear our conversation." Gino looked back at the path where Mel walked.

"I think we'll be fine." Totori said. "Oh yeah. Maybe we could ask Mel about being an adventurer."

"Her? I don't think she'll tell us anything worthwhile." Gino said.

"You don't know Gino." I looked over to him. "Maybe she has something good that she can tell us. Plus, she is your senior~"

"S-Shut up Lili!" Gino yelled at me.

After our encounter, we begin to explore the plains for materials for Totori and me if I don't already have it in the journal. We also begin the request that Gerhald wanted us to do, such as taking down four blue puni for cole and grade A materials. Some materials we have found here was magic grass, Serenity flowers, Puniballs, all that sort of things. After two days of exploring, it was time for us to come back to town. When we came back to town, Totori looked over at me and Gino.

"I'm going to go back home and put all of this material away." Totori looked over to me. "Lili, you can stay here since I'm just going to do that."

"It's okay, Totori!" Gino slung his arm around me. "I'll take Lili around the town while you're gone."

"Since when did I agree to that?" I said quietly as I looked at him.

"Okay, then I'll leave her to you, Gino." Totori walks away after she says that.

As soon as she left, it became silent between us. And then...SMACK!

"Ow!" Gino took him arm off me ah he held his head. "What was that for?!"

"Why don't you ask me if I wanted to go before thinking I'd want to."

"Because I know that you would say that you would be bored and agree." Gino looked at me with a pain expression. "Also, you need to go out more rather than always being by Totori's side."

"Well someone has to take care of Totori while out gathering material."

"And walking around town, and even outside of her house, and also in her alchemy room." Gino listed.

"..." I just look to the side as he said all that.

"See, even you admit it." Gino took my hand and began dragging me. "Come on, you need to liven up a little without being by Totori's side."

"What! But..." I looked back at the road that Totori's had just walked on. "Totori could be back any minute to find us."

"She already knows that I'm taking you around, if she wants to find you, she would look around and ask."

After that, I just stayed quiet. Ever since I moved in with Totori and Ceci, I felt like apart of their family. But, I mostly felt close to Totori because she was the very first person to come up and talk to me on my first day here. Even though I was younger than her and smaller by a few inches, I was a bit more mature than her so I basically acted like Ceci when we go exploring. Always my number one priority will be to stick by Totori no matter what.

After a while of being dragged, Gino had finally stopped dragging me and let me go. When I look around the area, I see that we have stopped at a fishing port that Guid, Totori's dad, would occasionally use. "...Gino...What are we doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, we are going fishing!" Gino walked over to a tree and took out two fishing rods.

"I get that part." I caught the rod that Gino threw at me. "But, why?"

"You have been living in a fishing village for a while now, but you have never fished since."

"Well, that..." I shift my eyes to the side.

"No excuses, you need to relax and easy way is to fish!" Gino ran down to the wooden port and threw the hook on the rod towards the river. "Come on, the faster you come down here, the faster you will feel relaxed!"

I just sigh as I look down at the wooden rod on my hands before looking back at the laid back Gino. He was just lying down on the port with his fishing rod in one of the port holes to keep it in place. I walked down to the port and also did a swish of my hook to the water before placing the rod down and sitting on the edge. For a few minutes, we mostly sat there in silence either looking at the sky or checking for movements of our rods. So far nothing...

"Hey Gino." I turn my head to him. "How much longer do we have to wait here?"

"Huh, what do you mean?" He opened his eyes and turn to me. "We have only been here for a few minutes and already you want to leave?"

"Yeah, I mean look..." I pointed to the untouched rods. "Nothing has been biting ever since we're here. Maybe we should just stop for the day."

"Of course we won't stop for the day." He propped himself up and walked over to sit next to me. "Fishing requires patience and is the best activity to relax."

"But..." I looked back at the trail the leads to town.

"Remember, if Totori wants something from us, she would looking around." Gino placed a hand on my shoulder making me look at him. "Now, come on and relax."

I just looked at him before looking back at the water that reflects up to us. A few more minutes pass and nothing...

"Hey, Lili..." I heard next to me.

I just keep looking at the water. "What, Gino?"

"...Do you miss your parents?"

"Of course, it's already been two years since they left...Two years celebrating holidays without them..."

"...I see...Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"...No, it's okay." I turn my sight to him. "I mean, it's nice for someone to ask me that once in a while."

A thump of wood was heard and we both turned to see the rod I had placed down was moving around like crazy. I quickly stood up and tried to pull up whatever was caught on the hook. "Gino! I think I got something!"

"Of course, I can see that!" Gino stood next to me looking at where the hook was. "Now, Lili, pull it up!"

"I'm trying!" I said struggling to hold on. Whatever was on the other side of the hook was a bit too much for me to carry.

The tug of war of me vs the mysterious capture continued with me trying to pull it up and Gino cheering me on from the sidelines. The capture the tugged on the fishing line almost pulling me into the water.

"Lili!" Gino speed over and grabbed me by the waist with one of his hands holding the rod. "Don't worry, I'll help catch this thing!"

I just nodded and with Gino, pulled on the rod. With just enough tug on our side, we were able to pull up the catch of the day, which what we didn't know was huge! As soon as we got the fish out...It was actually a water lizard!

"Gwah!" "Ahhh!"

The water lizard took it's mouth off the bait and stood in front of us ready to attack. Gino and I got out our swords and got ready for battle. I ran forward and did a side slash upwards and move back as Gino landed a down slash against it. The water lizard began to charge at me, but I was able to block it's claws and push it back, but I still earned some damage. To make sure we can end this fast, I press the switches on my swords, turning them into whips, and charges at the lizard, but swinging the whips and launching them at the lizard, binding it in place.

"Hurry, Gino!" I held the hilts tightly. "Try to slash it as much as you can!"

Gino nodded and charged with his sword in the air and launched multiple damage to the lizard. When the lizard fainted, I unwrapped my whips and flip the switch again to turn them back to swords and land the final blow to ensure that it won't come after.

"Phew! That's it!" I wiped the sweat of my forehead. "That is not easy trying to hold it, and especially trying to land hits on it."

"Wow! We actually defeated it!" Gino held his sword to the air. "We are awesome!"

Gino looked back on the port and saw the remaining rod tugging a bit. Walking over, he pulled on his rod and saw a small fish caught on his bait. He turned to me with a grin and a peace sign. "I got a fish! Yeah!"

"Pwah..." I covered my mouth trying to told it in. But, it was too funny and I just laugh out all that laughter out of me. "Man, even after all that, you still got a fish!"

Gino eventually joined in and we just laughed that whole time. Seeing as how it was an eventful afternoon, Gino walked me back to Totori's and soon left with his "prize" fish. As I enter the house, no one was at the kitchen or dining meaning that they must be out, or Totori is making something. But, I sort of didn't care since I'm tired from today. I walked towards my room and opened the door, in which I automatically flop onto my bed face first.

"So tired!" I said barely.

I rolled onto my back and looked at the ceiling. _'We have to raise 100,000 cole in one month...We're running out of time...'_

I turned to my side facing my desk as I look at the framed picture of our little group. I wonder, what would be it I were to never meet them...But that is a thought I push to the back of my mind. The one thing that matters right now is to help Totori with her dream and finish what my aunt started. My eyes begin to waver and soon, darkness appears in sight.


	5. Chapter 5

_5/15_

_Journal, how has it been? It's been a month since Totori, Gino, and I planned our goal to raise 100,000 cole so we can go to Arland. Mel now stays in town and helps Totori when asked. However, one of us would be left behind now since four people seem a bit much to care of. But, when Totori doesn't need me to go with her for material, I would usually go adventuring on my own to the plains, forest, and this brand new area Totori told me about which is like a beach area with brand new monsters such as an Audra and materials that has yet to be written in my aunt's journal. Also, I have also taken upon some of the requests Gerhald had for Torori so that we can get cole a lot faster. But, I only took the slaying monster request seeing as how I can't really do alchemy...Yeah...Anyway, today is the day we need to have the cole ready, I have at least 5,000 cole ready, but let's just hope the others were able to raise some too.  
_

I let out a sigh as I closed the cover of my journal. A whole month since our group planned the goal to raise cole. Totori has been out of the house a lot and at the times she is, I would usually be out slaying monsters for request or writing down new information based on what I find on my explorations. Basically, we haven't been hanging out as much, and the only times we do are when she ask me to go gather materials with her. Gino has been doing his best to have me relax a little bit such as climbing trees, hanging out at Gerhalds, or even just listening to his stories of his master who taught him how to fight in the first place. To be honest, it's working since I haven't been as worried for Totori as I were before, which is good because I felt like I was becoming a mini Ceci. Mel would usually come talk to me to help me fill the journal with all the monsters and materials she had found on her adventures, but also just to hang out. Right now, Totori, Gino, and Mel went out and been gone for about two days. Seeing as how today is the deadline, I think they're going to come back. So I got up from my desk and went out of the house to get to town for their arrival. At town, I walked over to a nearby building and leaned my back onto it as I wait for the group to come back. Eventually, I see three familiar figures walking from the road walking towards the town.

"Hey guys, welcome back." I waved my hand. "How did it go?"

But as they got closer, I see that they all had a gloom look on their faces. I stood straight up and walked towards them. "Hey, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"We couldn't save enough money..." I heard Gino whisper.

My eyes widen at the sudden news as I quickly turn my head to Totori, who like the others, also had a depress look on her. "After all that work too. We'll have to wait for the next one."

I walked over to Totori and patted her on the back. "It's okay Totori. At least you guys were able to raise a lot of cole so that next time Peter comes, you'll have enough.

"You say that, Lili." Gino scratched his head. "But we don't know when that'll be."

"True." My eyes cascade downwards as my mood also went down.

"Geez. I really hate it when it gets like this." Mel said. "Lili, can you go take Totori home to rest? There's no point brooding over it here. Okay?"

"Okay." I wrapped an arm around Totori's and began walking, but not before turning back to the two. "You guys should also go rest since you guys have been gone for a few days."

"I guess." Gino said. "I don't feel like doing anything anymore."

Gino began his slouch walk home as well as me and Totori while Mel watched us leave from the same spot.I turned my head back to Mel to see her give me a thumbs up guessing that she has something planned. I kept my grasp on the sad Totori until we got back to the house in which I placed her on the dining table seat and went to my room to take a shower. As I showered, I thought back how depressed Totori looked after seeing that she didn't pass her goal. I remember that another reason why Totori wanted to be an adventurer was to be able to travel around the land...and find her mother. When I first came to this town, Totori's mom had already left a while ago so I never got to meet her. However, I heard stories about her and how she was the best adventurer ever. As I begin to dress in my cotton dress pajamas, I remembered how happy Totori was every time she would talk about her mom. It made me smile at how her face would brighten up and her eyes sparkle at all the stories her mother were in. As I lied on my bed looking up at the ceiling, I heard my door slam. "Lili!"

"Umph!" I gasp out as I feel something jump on me. "T-To-Totori?!"

"Hey Lili, guess what!" She turned her head to look at me. "We'll all be able to go to Arland!"

"Huh?!" I propped myself to a sitting position. "Really?! But, don't we need to raise more money for Peter?"

"That's the thing, Peter was pulling a joke." Totori said. "He only said 100,000 cole so that he didn't have to take us."

"I see...Huh?!" I looked at her with wide eyes. "Are you kidding me?!"

"No, it seems everyone in town knows that he only does that when he is too lazy to take people."

"That son of a-!" I had a sword in my hand trying to kill this guy, but Totori was holding me down. "Let me go Totori! This guy needs to be taught a lesson!"

"Don't Lili! Now we can all go to Arland since we have enough to go!" Totori exclaimed.

I stopped my struggle as I remember that we'll need him as a driver. I gave a annoyed tsk and placed my sword down as I sat on the bed with Totori next to me.

"Aren't you excited, Lili?" Totori turns to me. "We'll finally be able to become adventurers and you'll be able to meet your aunt!"

"I'm am excited, but also proud." I turn to her. "After all our hard work, especially yours, we raised enough money to be able to go."

"Yeah!" Totori nodded.

I look out the window to see the night sky growing. "It's getting late, we better go to sleep now if we want to get up early to go to Arland."

"Um, Lili." I heard from the side.

"What, Totori?"

"...If it's okay...Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Of course!" I lied down on my bed and patted to the empty space next to me. "Come on, there's a lot of space."

Totori just nodded as she began to lie herself on my bed as I cover both of us with the blanket. I turned off my desk lamp and moved around to get comfy as I lie with me and Totori facing each other. "Good night, Totori."

"Good night, Lili." Totori gave me a smile as she closed her eyes.

I smiled and did the same eventually having the darkness consume me to dreamland.

* * *

**Morning**

"Hey Lili, get up."

I turn to the side trying to avoid the voice wanting to sleep more. It's way to early and I'm tired.

"Okay, I have to do what I have to do."

I heard footsteps walk on my wooden floor around to the side of the room I was facing and then heard my curtains open in which the evil sun blinded me and make me wake up.

"Are you awake now, Lili?"

I opened my strain eyes to see a blurry view of Ceci with her arms to her sides. "...I want to sleep more..."

"Too bad~" Ceci walked to the front of my bed and pulled my covers off me. "Remember today you, Totori, and Gino are going to Arland today. Come on, get and and get ready."

"Why can't you wake Totori first~"

"Because I alreay did, and she already headed off." Ceci said. "You're the last one to go."

"What?!" I shot straight up. I looked to my side to see the sleeping Totori already gone. "No way! I'm late!"

I stood up form my bed and rushed to the bathroom to get ready. Ceci just laugh and left my room during the chaos. After getting ready, I got changed into my usual attire, sheath my swords, and ran out of the house in panic. "I'm off!"

I ran down the trail to see the town up ahead and as I got closer, I see Ceci, Guid, and Mel all looking at the carriage that was already beginning to ride off. "Wait!"

The carriage door opens to show Totori poking her head out to look out. "Huh? Lili?"

Gino, who was also inside, poke his head on top of her. "Hey, Lili! Hurry up!"

I began to run towards them as the carriage begins to speed up little by little. Gino and Totori held their hands out as I place out mine and grab a hold of their hands as they pulled me into the carriage. When I finally got in, Totori and Gino were on the ground as I was on top of them after finally getting in.

"Hey, please stay seated back there. I know you guys are excited, but still." Peter said from outside.

We all stared at each other before bursting out with laughter from what just happened. After we got all that out, we began to sit on the carriage, me and Totori together and Gino sitted across from us. We all looked out the window to see the scenery flying by quickly in a blink of an eye.

"Hey, this carriage goes a lot faster than I expected." Gino said as he looks out the window.

"But it's so shaky." Totori said. "How many days will it take to reach Arland again?"

"Days? I think he said a few weeks." Is what we heard from Gino.

"Huh, are you serious?" I turned to him wide eyes. "I know Arland is far, but not that far."

"Oh...That's a really long time." Totori said.

"But it'd be even longer if we walked." Gino explained. "You never know what sorts of monsters are lurking by those paths."

"Gino's right about that." Totori and Gino turn to me as I take out my aunt's journal. "My aunt's journal is full of monsters who are from Arland. They seem very dangerous. It's a good thing we're getting there by carriage."

"Those monsters do look dangerous." Totori looked at the monster pages in the journal. "But we'll be adventurers after we make it to Arland. I might get to see my teacher too. I can hardly wait."

"Teacher? Do you mean Rorona?" I asked as I placed my aunt's journal away.

"Yeah! I always wanted to see her workshop in Arland!" Totori exclaimed.

"I'm so excited to become an adventurer!" Gino raised a fist up in the air. "Can't we speed this thing up?!"

"Gino, like you said, it will take weeks before we can get there." I looked at him. "For now, let's just have Peter take us these safely."

"Right, Lili." Gino replied looking back at the window.

A week has passed since we all left Alanya, and to be honest, it's starting to feel a bit boring just sitting on a wooden bench for that long.

"Ugh...This is starting to get boring." Gino said as he scratched his head.

"My body's getting so sore from sitting and resting on this hard bench for so long~" I said stretching out my body.

"Urp...The shaking is making me queasy..." Totori said looking a bit green.

I rubbed her back with small circles to help her feel a bit better.

"C'mon. Snap out of it." Gino turned to her. "You've been sick the whole time. You need to get used to it already."

"Give her a chance Gino." I turned to his as I continue comforting her. "I mean this is her first time in a carriage going to a far away place."

"Yours too, and look at you." Gino said.

"I dunno if I can...U-Urp..." Totori began to sway from side to side.

I moved Totori so that she is resting her head on the bench as I moved next to Gino to give her some space. Totori closed her eyes and tries to rest so she won't focus on the shaking.

"Blegh...If I knew it would be this boring, I would have just walked." Gino said.

"Yeah, yeah, and if you do that, me and Totori would already be adventuring with our brand new adventurers licenses."

"I'm just saying, man I hope we get there quickly cause I can't take this anymore!" Gino exclaimed.

"...Me too..." I said quietly.

A few more days passed and we are all still in the carriage getting to Arland. Because of Totori's sickness, she began lying down on the bench resting making me sit next to Gino as we travel. It wasn't bad since I was used to talking to Gino and close enough to sleep on him. But, I'm getting worried about how long of a trip it has been. It's nighttime right now, and Totori was sound asleep as I looked out the window at the night.

"Hey, Lili..." Gino tapped my shoulder.

I turned away from the window to look at him. "What, Gino?"

"Are you excited to meet your aunt?" He asked. "She does live in Arland, and we're going to arrive there soon."

"...It's mixed to be honest." I said. "I'm excited to finally meet the aunt who has given me a goal, but I'm nervous of what she will be like when I meet her for the first time."

"Why do you have to be nervous?" He asked. "You said that in her journals that she was a outgoing, kind person. I'm sure she is just the same as she writes in her journals."

"I know...But..." I looked down at the carriage floor.

Gino held my shoulders making me look up at him wide eye of the sudden contact.

"Don't be nervous." Gino said looking directly at me. "Calm down and just think about how you're finally meeting her after so long."

"...Okay..." I took his hands off my shoulders. "Thanks for the advice, Gino."

"Of course, plus Totori would say the same thing." Gino said before grabbing a pillow. "Come on, hurry and go to sleep."

I just laugh and lied down on the pillow that was on his lap before closing my eyes to go to sleep. Morning came by and me and Gino were wide awake, bored, but still wide awake. Totori was still resting on the bench, there are times when she is awake, but too sick to sit up.

"Hey, Peter! Are we there yet?" Gino asked to Peter from the slide mini door.

"Just one more day. Try to be patient." Is what we both heard from mini door.

"One more day! Finally!" Gino exclaimed.

"We can finally get out of this cramp, hard carriage!" I raised both my fist up finally being able to be outside and stretch as much as I want.

"Urp..." We both heard from Totori.

I placed my fist down as I turn to the sick girl. "Totori, how are you hanging over there?"

"O-Okay...Urp..."

"You're really out of it, huh?" Gino asked. "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm done for." We quietly heard. "I didn't know being an adventurer was so tough."

"But you've just been riding in a carriage." Gino said.

"Bare with it Totori." I stood next to her lying body. "Just think, today we can finally be adventurers."

"Woah!"

The carriage suddenly stopped making the inside shake. I fell on my butt but also hit my head on the bench I just sat on. "Ow!"

"Ah! I hit my head!" Totori finally propped herself to a sitting position holding her head.

"Hey! Why did you stop all of the sudden?!" Gino yelled at the mini door.

Suddenly, the carriage door is pried wide open and Peter come in. "Th-Th-This is bad! Really bad!"

"What's really bad...?" Gino looked out from the door. "Whoa!"

"Wh-What?! What's going on?!" Totori asked worried.

I wondered what happened, so I ignored the group's complains and jumped outside and turned to see a huge monster on top of the carriage scratching at the roof. From it's weight, I can see the carriage beginning to crack which meant that those inside can get hurt. I quickly took out my swords and flipped the switches to whips and threw one of the whips to the monsters to hurt it. "Hey, you! Get off of my friend's carriage!"

The monster heard me and jumped off to land a few feet ahead of me. I threw one of the whips at him and binded one of it's arms as I used the other to slash it. However, this monster was strong as it used it's claw to pull on the sword dragging me with it and throwing me towards a wooden pole knocking the held breath out. The monster kick it's feet back about to charge at me and I closed my eyes from the impact. But...It never came.

"Take it!"

Slashes can be heard in front of me and when I heard a thump, I opened my eyes to see a tall figure with shaggy brown hair wearing a long black coat in front of me with a sword holster around his waist. The carriage door opens and Totori and Gino come out to see the sight.

"Looks like I made it in time." The man said.

Totori and Gino look towards the ground to see the monster knocked out on the ground.

"Wow...The monster's knocked out." Gino looked at the knocked out monster amazed.

The man in front of me turned back and walked my way. When he was in front of me, he held his hand out. "Can you get up?"

I just nodded as I took his hand and was pulled up. "Thank you."

"...Scarey..." I heard Totori quietly said.

"Scary?" The man took his hand back as he turned back to Totori.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did you hear me?!" Totori exclaimed worried. "Scary isn't right! What I meant was..."

"Wow! That old man beat the monster by himself!" Gino looked at the man with wide eyes.

"Old guy..."

"Gino, that's not nice calling his old." I said from behind the man.

"Watch your mouth, Gino!" Totori said from her side.

Peter walked out from inside the carriage and walked towards the mysterious man. "You helped us big time back there! I don't know how to thank you!"

"It was merely my duty as a knight. I didn't think such a monster would appear so close to Arland." The man said as he crossed his arms.

"I'm surprised too. I've been working around here for a while, but nothing of this magnitude has happened before." Peter explained.

"I see." The man said. "I'll take care of the report. You four should get to town right away."

"Hey! Don't ignore me, old man!" Gino walked til he was in front of him.

The man just stared at him as Gino stood in front.

"Gino! He's glaring at you! He's glaring at you really hard!" Totori whispered to him.

"...Take care." The man said before walking off.

As he stop to look at me, his eyes lowered to the swords I held in my hands which are still in whip form. His eyes squinted before looking back up at me. "Hey, where did you get those swords from?"

"Huh?" I looked at him confused. "From my aunt..."

"...I see." He turned away. "You take good care as well."

He continued his walk away from us as we all stared at his walking form. I walked towards the group and stood next to Totori.

"He's gone. I think he looked cool...Like a real adventurer!" Gino said as he watch the man walk away.

"I was so scared..." Totori looked down afraid. " I think he was scarier than the monster..."

"I don't think he's scary at all..." I said turning to her. "He was nice enough to kill the monster before it harmed us. A guy like that can't be that scary."

"Alright! I'm going to become an adventurer just like that old guy!" Gino exclaimed.

"Gino, he ain't a old guy." I turned to him.

Peter began walking back to the carriage and sat back onto his spot. "I think the carriage can still operate. Let's get out of here."

We all got back onto the carriage and got ready for the rest of the ride there. After a full day, we pulled into town to see stone roads, building built high up towards the sky, plants all around the buildings. We all got off the carriage and walked into the area.

"Wow...So this is Arland..." Totori looked around the area.

"Whoa. It's totally different from our village." Gino said amazed as he looked all around him.

"Arland is becoming highly technical, it's still amazing though seeing it all beforehand." I looked at the stone buildings.

"Look!" Totori pointed to the stone roads. "The ground is made from stone! It's really easy to walk on!"

"These house are huge!" Gino points at a random house. "How do they make them like that?"

I just did a sweatmark at how they were reacting like kids. Are they really older than me?

"Hey guys...I think you need to tone down the excitements by a bit." I said looking at them.

"Stop gawking." Peter walked to us. "You're making it obvious you two are from the boonies. I'll stay here to take you home tomorrow afternoon. Finish up what you need to do and come back on tomorrow, okay?"

Peter then walked away from us and headed towards his carriage.

"Tomorrow afternoon, huh?" Gino wondered. "That doesn't give us a lot of time. Let's go get our licenses!"

"Sure! So. um. where do we go get them?" Totori asked.

"Isn't it obvious...? Wait, I don't know either." Gino said.

"From my aunt's journal..." I took it out and skim through the pages. "To get an adventurer's card, you have to go to the adventurer's guild. She also wrote here that one of her friends work there name "Cory"...That's a weird name."

"Does it also say where it's at?" Gino asked.

"Wait let me check..." I read the page through not missing a word. "...Nope sorry, it just says where, not how."

"Well that's okay!" Gino said. "We'll ask the locals and see if they know."

Gino the sped off the the closest local with me and Totori following behind. One of the locals was a lady with a dark aqua dress and apron with light blondish hair who said the guild was left from where we were and a famous workshop to the right. We headed right and down the stairs past the workshop and entered a store titled:

_R&amp;T'S SUNDRIES _

When we went inside, we saw that it was full of many things like barrels of flowers, wheel barrels, books, trashcans, and a bunch of male customers talking.

"This is a really cute store." Totori looked around. "I wonder if they sell sundries here."

As she talks, I looked around to see a women placing some books onto the shelves. Walking away from Totori and Gino, I went towards the lady. "Excuse me?"

The lady turned around and I was able to have a better visual of her. She was a lady who looked like in her late 20s with long, brown, wavy hair cascading down her back to the middle of her back with two stands of her hair braided and wrapped around the back of her head and had bangs that covered her forehead. She had big, green eyes and wore a simple dress with long sleeves with ruffles on the ends and a skirt that ends at her ankles.

She placed the rest of her books down on a close by table before looking back at me. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Um, by any chance, where is the adventurer's guild?"

"Oh, that's easy yo-" The women tried to explain.

"It's Tiffani! Tiffani's here!"

We turned to see a women with a green dress and short brownish hair next to Totori. She looked really pretty. I turned to the voice to see the three guys looking at her.

"That's so great!" Another one said. "I thought I wouldn't get my fix today!"

"It's thanks to that girl! She's amazing!"

"Are they talking about Totori and that woman next to her?" I asked as I looked at them.

"Oh you didn't know?" I turned to the lady next to me. "That lady next to your friend is super popular with the man. She used to be married, but now she's a widow. Since then, all the male citizens would come here just to see her and try to court her."

"What, seriously?" I looked at her wide eye.

"Yeah." She nodded before placing her hand out. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name's Holly, I help out and it's nice to meet you."

_Holly Fenheart, assistant of SUNDRIES _

"Oh nice to meet you..." I held out my hand. "Holly, that sounds familiar? Do you by any chance know someone named Alana Marigold?"

"Alana?!" She looked at me shocked. "Of course I do, we are the best of friends. She was the one who introduced me to this job in the first place. Why?"

"Oh, that's because she is my aunt, and I really want to meet her."

"Ah I see..." She looked at me with a smile. "Well one thing for sure is that the place she is residing is not that far from here. I'm sure you'll see her soon."

A tap of my shoulder made me turn to see Totori and Gino. "Lili, we are going to head out, are you coming?"

"Ah sure." I turned back to Holly. "Thank you so much for talking with me."

"Nice meeting you! Come back soon!" Is what I heard as I exit the shop with Gino and Totori.

We headed back up the stairs and walked towards the workshop we passed by earlier. We looked at the building in front of us with amazement, well mostly Totori.

"Hey, it's Teacher's workshop!" Totori exclaimed.

"So this is where she makes all of her alchemy, not a bad place." I said nodding.

"Your teacher?" Gino asked. "You mean for alchemy?"

"Yeah see?" Totori pointed to the sign next to the door. "It says Atelier Rorona right there! Teacher! Teacher!"

As Totori yells out, no one came out from the workshop. Totori held the side of her head confused. "Maybe she's not home..."

"There's a note on the door." Gino pointed out.

I headed towards the door and read the note. "_"Master ran away again. I'm going to bring her back. Please chastise her if you see her" _Is what it says. I'm guess the person who taught Rorona ain't the type to work."

"Aww...I thought I'd get to see her." Totori said with a sigh.

I walked over to Totori and gave her the usual pat on the back. "It's okay Totori, remember what we're here for. The adventurer's passes."

"Yeah, you're right..."Totori looked at me.

Me and Gino were able to cheer up Totori and continue on with our quest to find the guild. We looked at the building next door that had two axes crossing each other and a metal door with a sign above it reading:

_BEEFY WEAPON SHOP_

"Um, what's this shop?" Totori asked.

"We'll find out if we all go in." Gino recommended.

"Well then..." I held the door handle. "Let's enter."

"In we go." Totori said behind me.

We opened the door to see a big muscular man wearing a big afro hair on his head. "Oh..."

Totori looked at the man confused. "Huh?"

"What..." I looked at the man. From the sudden sight, I closed the door and stood in front of the door with my hand off the handle.

Gino, who didn't see it, looked at me and Totori confused. "Whoa. What're you two doing? Let's go."

As he took a step closer, I covered the door with my entire body. "I-I don't think we should go in..."

"I might've just seen something really, really weird." Totori said.

"Weird? What're you talking about? If you're not coming, wait out here." Gino pried me off the door and turned the handle to go inside.

Seeing as how I'm a bit disturbed to go in, I just stayed outside as the two went in. A few moments later and the two finally came out. "Hey guys."

"Hey Lil!" Gino waved. "This shop is amazing! It has so many big swords~"

"Of course it does." I pointed at the sign. "This is a weapon shop after all."

Gino began walking to the next building leaving me and Totori behind.

"Totori..." I looked at her. "Was that weird guy still there?"

"No..." She held the side of her face. "I asked the owner and he said that he never saw someone like that."

"I see." I look back at Gino who was waving in front of a building. "We better catch up, Gino is waiting."

"Right." Totori nodded.

We both walked over to Gino who was standing in front a a building with glass doors and green and red awning around the door and windows. The sign above read:

_SUNRISE CAFE_

We all entered to see the interior was a bit like Gerhald's tavern, except it was cleaner and a bit more fancier here.

"Is this a restaurant?" Totori asked.

"Perfect. Let's get something to eat. We really didn't eat anything good during our trip here." Gino said.

"But Ceci told me not to waste any money." Totori said concern.

"And this place looks so fancy, I bet that the food must be as expensive as the restaurant." I said looking around.

"I don't serve anything so expensive you'd think you're wasting money. Cheap, fast, good. My three rules." We all heard.

We turned to the voice to see a man with red hair and green eyes wearing a chef's shirt and scarf around his neck with a black apron around his waist.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Totori looks at the man. "Um, do you work here?"

"Yeah. I'm Iksel. Nice to meet you." The man introduced himself. "I overheard you say you came by carriage? Just you three kids?"

"I'm no kid." Gino said. "We're adventurers, y'know?!"

"Well wannabe adventurers." I spoke up. "That's why we came all the way here."

"We came here to get our licenses." Totori added.

"Adventurers huh? It's a bit of a pain to get a license nowadays. They handed them out like candy a few years back." Iksel explained. "Well, today's a special day for you three. Eat anything you want. My treat."

"Really? Thanks man!" Gino said.

"We couldn't do that..." Totori said. "I have some money, so I can pay you..."

"Kids should accept good will when they can." Iksel said. "Repay me by telling people about my food when you travel. Tell everyone to come to the Sunrise cafe when they arrive at Arland."

"I'll advertise if your food's good." Gino said. "I won't do it if it sucks."

"Gino!" Totori exclaimed at him.

"Man, Gino, already making deals." I did a face palm.

"Hah! Cheeky little brat. Sure thing. I'll make you eat those words after having a taste of my food." Iksel said as he walks to the kitchen.

I looked around the restaurant, specifically the pictures on the wall. They looked like as if they were taken a few years ago seeing as how Iksel looked a bit younger in the pictures. There were also pictures with Rorona and a small blond girl as well as a girl the same height as Rorona with straight hazel hair with one strand as a braid. I don't know why, but I feel connected to her.

"Hey, Iksel, can you please carry these plates out."

"Yeah, wait give me that one on the counter, the customers who ordered that are waiting."

I heard voice come from behind the counter, guessing it was Iksel of course, but there's one more voice which I can't seem to recognize.

"Okay, here, you're lucky to have me here huh?"

"Of course, my loving girlfriend here to help me. You're the best."

"Complements later, we need to get the children their food. They must be famish."

"Right, Alana~"

_'Alana!_' As the kitchen doors open, I quickly turned to see the one person I have been looking for since I got her journal.

"...Alana..."


	6. Chapter 6

".. Alana..."

As I say my aunt's name, a women with medium length, wavy, hazel hair, with green eyes in her twenties comes out from the back door wearing the female version of the chef uniform as she carried one plate of food with Iksel following behind her with two more plates of food.

"It's a good thing I was here, who knows what would have happened to the cafe, especially on a busy day like this." I heard her say.

"I could handle the cafe on my own, but it's nice to spend some time together, don't cha think?" Iksel said.

"I guess..." The lady said as she turned to me placing the plate of food down. "Here you go, I heard from Iksel here that you guys are here for adventurer licenses right?"

I tilted my head up as I look at her dazed. "Huh? Oh...yes, we are."

While I was talking to her, Totori and Gino moved to another spot to eat as Iksel went over with them.

"Like Iksel said, it's harder to get one now, since they are in demand by many." She explained. "However, just follow what the guild says, and you won't have any trouble, Lili."

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind." I said to her. But as I say that, I had a confused look on my face.

_'When did I tell her my name?'  
_

Seeing my confused look made the lady in front of me laugh making me focus on her. "W-What's so funny?"

"S-Sorry about that, but the look on your face." She laughed one more time before continuing. "I bet you were wondering, "How does she know me?" well what aunt wouldn't know her own niece's name."

My eyes widen as I know for sure that the lady in front of me was my aunt, Alana. My eyes began to water as I looked at her and soon enough, I stood from my seat and hugged her from in front of the bar. She looked shocked for a second before she relaxed to a smile and returned my hug as I soaked her shoulder with my silent tears.

"Y-You don't know how much I wanted to meet you!" I said in her shoulder.

"It's so nice to see you again, Lili." My aunt said softly into my ear.

After a moment, we released the hug as I sat back down to my seat. As I wiped my tears off, my aunt came around and sat next to me.

"You've grown so much since the last time I saw you, Lili." My aunt said.

"Huh?" I turned to her confused. "We met before?"

"Yes, I came by your house all the time when your family still lived in Arland." She explained. "I guess during that time you were too young so you don't remember me.

"So this whole time I thought I never knew you, yet I did when I was younger." I held the sides of my head. "Ah! How embarrassing~!"

"It's okay, I'm still happy that you remember me." She said as her eyes lowered to the swords. "Especially since you have my old stuff."

Hearing that made me turn red. "O-Oh, I-I'm so sorry, if you want them back..."

As I was trying to take off the swords, she quickly waved her hands in panic. "No no! It's okay! I'm done doing that! I'm retired now so I don't need to do that anymore."

"Retired?" I looked at her. "Because of Iksel, right?"

She looked at me confused as I asked that. "How did you...oh..."

I placed my hands on my bag and opened it to take out the familiar journal and placing it on her lap. She looked down at it before taking her two hands and grasp the journal as she raised it to her face. "It's been too long since I've seen this thing. I'm guessing you read this?"

I nodded as she looked over at me. She looked back to the journal and placed it back onto my lap before turning to the front.

"I still remember the memories I had with that journal. I traveled far and wide to get as much information as possible about the world. But now, I am needed here, with my boyfriend who is dear to my heart." She raised a hand to her heart. "You read my very last note in the journal right? I could never leave Iksel after that, and ever since, I never regretted my decision on moving in with him and staying here."

As she explained, I looked at her with a smile. 'I'm so happy that Aunt Alana was able to find happiness from a sacrifice'

"Hey, Lili? Can you do me a favor?" I heard her say.

I turned to her. "Sure aunt Alana, what is it."

As I say that, she raised her hands to my face and pulled my cheeks. "Okay one, don't call me aunt, makes me sound old, okay?" I nodded before she continued. "And two...I want you to help me with my journal, can you do that?"

I placed my hands on her hands as she released my cheeks. "Of course Alana, that's what I have been doing for a while now! You can count on me!"

"That's what I want to hear!" Alana said happily. "Now quickly finish your food cause I think your friends left you."

"Huh?!" I turned back to see the table occupied by Totori and Gino was now empty. "No way they left me!"

I quickly turned back to the front and started to quickly eat the food in front of me. When I finished, I turned to Alana and gave her a hug before gathering my stuff and leaving the cafe. "Thank you for the delicious food and for talking to you! I'll see you later!"

"Good luck on getting your license!" I heard as I exited the cafe. "And say hi to Cory and Holly for me!"

When I came out, I saw Totori and Gino in front of a lamp post talking about something before Totori notices me as she waves at me.

"S-Sorry, I just had to talk to her!" I yelled as I ran over to them.

"It's okay, Lili." Totori said. "You wanted to talk to your aunt."

"Huh?" I looked at her. "You knew she was my aunt?"

"Mr. Iksel explained how he noticed your stuff and how it belonged to his girlfriend." Totori explained. "He even pointed her out for us to see."

"I see, I'm so happy that you guys were able to see her at least." I said.

"Now that that's over, let's hurry up and get our licenses already!" Gino exclaimed.

"Gino, do you even know where the adventurer guild is?" I looked at him.

"Of course, it's just down the road!" He pointed out.

I looked down at the road and saw a huge building which may have been the building. "How are you so sure that it's there?"

"Mr. Iksel told us the directions when we talked with him inside." Totori explained.

I looked over at Gino who had a sweatmark on his forehead. "Ah~ So he was the one who knew."

"W-Well, he helped with where it was, that's for sure." Gino said looking to the side awkwardly.

We all started to walked down the guild building before entering the double doors. As we entered inside, the interior of the building was very royal looking. While we walked, I looked around the room to see a bronze lighting above us with a red carpet leading from the door as a path below us. We took a few more steps before stopping.

"That must be the castle's reception desk." Totori pointed out.

"Seems that way. It's been a long wait, but I'll finally be a real adventurer!" Gino exclaimed.

Hearing that remark made me walk behind him and did a tough tap on the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Excuse me Gino, but don't you mean "We'll finally be real adventurers". Me and Totori are also here, you know!" I said to him.

"Okay okay, We'll finally be real adventurers. Happy now?" He said turning to me while holding the back of his head.

"Very"

"So what do we do to get a license?" Totori asked. "Do we have to take a test or something?"

"Remember what Aunt Alana had said, they don't just give them out anymore." I pointed out.

"No point worrying about it now." Gino said. "Let's go ask someone."

"S-Sure." "Okay" Me and Totori replied.

Then, a loud conversation made Totori, me, and Gino looked towards it.

"I said, no!" We heard. "When I said you can't have it, I meant it!"

"Ahhh! I'm so sorry!" Totori backed away as she said that." Wait, I wasn't the one getting yelled at, was I?"

"No Totori, beside we haven't even done anything yet." I said next to her.

"It came from over there." Gino pointed towards the crowd in front of us. "Look, a crowd's starting to build up."

"You're right." Totori began to relax. "Hey, some tiny girl is arguing."

"Totori that's not very nice pointing out a girl's shortness." I said to her.

After I said that, we walked closer to the crowd to get a better look and hear on what's going on. When we got closer, I was able to get a better look at the two main people. One of them was a women with wavy blond hair tied up in a pony tail with a red ribbon and her bangs parted to the sides, and wore a peach color blouse with pink and golden edge ruffle collar. The other person was a girl a bit taller than her with black hair with some of it as a side ponytail held with something golden and a pink jewel in the center and her bangs covered her forehead, as for clothing I can only see a reddish clock with the edges covered in gold and black gloves covering her hands.

"Then tell me why! Tell me why I'm not allowed to get my adventurer's license." The one with the red cloak exclaimed with anger.

"Because a rude little baby without manners doesn't deserve one." The girl with blond hair said.

"Y-You're the one with no manners." The girl with the red cloak exclaimed. "How dare you talk to me like that! I' m the head of the Schwarzlang family!"

"Oh~? You're from the Schwarzlang family?" The blond girl turned to the other girl with a smirk. "I'm a member of the Feuerbach family. Looks like we're both aristocrats."

"Don't compare me to you!" The other girl pointed at the blond girl. "Your family bought their status with money, you vulgar nouveau riche!"

"Hmph. That's stupid. It just means it's so insignificant it can be bought for a price." The blond girl turned away. "And you put on airs and decide to flaunt it around here? Do you know how stupid that makes you look?"

"Why you...I've had it!" The girl with the red cloak exclaimed. "Prepare yourself!"

"Oh? You can't win with words so you resort to force." The blond looked back at the other girl. "Aristocrats nowadays are no different from barbarians!"

"Gaaaah! What did you say?!" The girl with the red clack exclaimed.

Over where we were, everyone was amazed of what is going on.

"Wow, that's scary." Gino pointed out. "Looks like the tiny one is winning."

"Which one? They are both tiny." I said.

"Gino, Lili, you two really shouldn't stare..." Totori said.

I turned to Totori after she says that. "But Totori, everyone here is staring at this."

"Nah, it's fine." Gino began pushing through the crowd while grabbing Totori's and my arm. "Let's get front-row seats."

"Ah! Don't pull on my arm!" Totori said.

I began pulling my arm out of his grasp, but that didn't work. "Hey, we can get there on our own."

Suddenly, Gino pulled Totori so hard that she tripped on her feet and face planted right in front of the two girls arguing.

"Oh, sorry..." Gino said walking up to Totori still holding onto my arm.

Seeing that he was distracted, I pulled my arm out of his grasp and did the usual punch in the head at him. "Idiot! You should know that Totori is not used to being pulled."

"Ow..." Totori pushed herself up to notice the two girls staring at her. "Oh..."

The blond girl just looked down at Totori. "What do you want?"

"If you get in my way, I'll show you no quarter." The girl with the red cloak said.

"Uh-oh! N-No, it's not that! I just tripped and fell!" Totori quickly stood up waving her hands in front of her. "But, umm...I came to get my adventurer's license, so, um..."

"It's true..." I walked up next to Totori. "Not just her, but also me and our other friend came all this way just to get our license."

"Can you consider the situation before opening your...Hm?" The blond girl eyed at me and Totori. "Where'd you get that staff and swords?"

"Huh? This?" Totori raised up her staff. "My teacher gave it to me..."

"My swords were given to me by my aunt." I said to the girl.

"Teacher? Aunt? That's Rorona's staff and Alana's swords...Hey!" The blond girl gave her full attention to us. "Are you the student Rorona was talking about and Alana's niece?"

"Um, yes." Totori and me both said.

"Rorona is my teacher, but..." Totori said.

"Alana is my aunt..." I added after Totori.

"Why didn't you two tell me sooner?" The blond girl gave us a smile. "Uh-huh. So, you're Rorona's and Alana's..."

The blond girl began walking to one of the desk in the building. "Come on over here. I'll give you two as many licenses as you want."

"O-Oh..." Totori said. "But me and Lili only need one."

"Hey!" The girl with the red cloak exclaimed. "How could you give a license to those rednecks and not me?!"

"What?" The blond girl in front of us turned to the girl irritated. "You're still here?"

"Yes, I am! Of course I am!" The girl with the red cloak exclaimed.

"Look. She's an alchemist." The blond girl explained. "There are only three in the entire nation. She's valuable. As for the other girl, she's related to one of the known travelers and researchers around. Understand?"

"Her?" The girl turned to Totori. "An alchemist...?"

"Yes. She's the student of Rorona Frixell, the alchemist who lead this nation to prosperity." The blond explained. "That means she's the student's student of the infamous Astrid Zexis. You still got a problem with her?"

"Grr...You two!" The girl with the red cloak pointed at the both of us.

"Y-Yes?!" Totori exclaimed.

I looked at the girl confused. "Is something wrong?"

"Your names." The girl with the red cloak said. "Tell me your names."

"Um it's Totori..." Totori said.

I pointed to myself as the girl asked for names. "My name is just Lili..."

"Totori and Lili." The girl with the red cloak said. "I'll remember those names!"

After the girl said that, she began walking and soon left the building.

"Huh? Huh?!" Totori looked at the door where the girl left from. "Why does it seem like she has a grudge against me?!"

I patted Totori's back to comfort her. "It's okay Totori, she also has a grudge with me if that makes you feel better."

"Geez. People who flaunt their status always cower in front of others with a higher title." The blond girl explained. "Hey. You two came to get your licenses, didn't you? Come with me."

"Hey, Totori, Lili! No fair!" Gino, who was looking at the situation, finally came up next to us. "What about me?!"

"Oh Gino, you were still here~!" I turned to him amused. "I though you would've left earlier because you must've gotten bored."

"No way Lili, I didn't come all this way just to not get a license." Gino said.

"Oh, sorry." Totori said. "Um, can our friend come with us?"

"Sure. You can all come together." The blond said.

"Great!" Totori said.

The blond began walking with us following. She then walked to the back of one of the desk while we were all on the other side facing her.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet." The blond said. "My name is Cordelia. I take care of all the formalities involving adventurers. Nice to meet you."

_Adventurer Guild Receptionist: Cordelia Von Feuerbach _

"Cordelia..." I looked at her confused. "Now why does that name sound familiar?"

"Nice to meet you too." Totori said. "So, um...Cordellia...How do you know my teacher?"

"Rorona and I are inseparable. I guess you could say we're childhood friends. Or best buds. Something like that." Cordelia explained. "As for Alana, we met a while back, but we are also good friends. She really helps out when I have a lot of work."

"I...don't think I get it." Totori said slouching her shoulders.

"I kind of get the relationship with my aunt..." I said. "...Sort of..."

As we were thinking about that, Cordelia handed in front of us some cards. When we all got a closer look, it was adventurer licenses.

"There we go. Adventurer licenses for three." Cordelia said. "You're all official adventurers now."

We all each took our own adventurer licenses and looked at them with amazement.

"Wow. So this is an adventurer license." Gino said looking at his license. "Hooray! I'm a adventurer now!"

"Gino, I think you mean we." I said looking at him before turning back to the license in my hand. "But you're right, it feels amazing to actually have them in our own hands."

"Huh? That's it?" Totori looked up at Cordelia confused. "Are you sure?"

"It's fine. Anyone can be a adventurer if they want." Cordelia said.

"Anyone but that girl who was just here." I whispered to Gino as we both snicker at the scene.

"O-Oh, really? Then what about that girl?" Totori asked.

"She's out of the question." Cordelia said with a sigh. "If she had just asked nicely, I would've given it to her."

"Oh..." "I see..." Me and Totori said.

"It's easy to become an adventurer, but it's up to you to become first rate." Cordelia explained.

"I know." Gino said. "We have to go on adventures and beat up strong monsters, right?"

"It's not that simple. Fine, allow me to explain the details." Cordelia said.

Cordelia explained how the adventurer license worked and that in order to renew it, we would have to take requests by the guild and accomplish them in a specific time.

"That should do it." Cordelia said finishing the explanation. "You understand?"

"Um, yes. Somewhat." Totori said.

"Seems simple enough." I said.

"Something about points?" Gino said confused. "And we have to get it updated? Um..."

"Simply put, you go on adventures, beat monsters, fulfill requests, and synthesis lots of items." Cordelia explained. "You'll learn as you go."

"That's not much different from what we already do." Gino said.

I nodded as Gino said that. "That's true, we have been doing these things for Gerhard so I think we'll do just fine."

"Right. But now that we have a license, we can explore places we weren't allow to before." Totori said.

Cordelia suddenly looked up at us concern. "Uh-oh. I forgot something very important. The license expires three years from today. Be sure you don't forget that."

"Three years?" Gino asked. "What happens after that?"

"Isn't is obvious, our licenses go bye bye." I said to him.

"Lili is right." Cordelia said. "If your rank is high enough and I see you're fit as an adventurer, I'll renew it. And if your rank is low, your license will be revoked. You'll never be allowed to register as an adventurer again."

"I knew it." I said.

"I-Isn't that really strict?!" Totori asked shocked.

"If you don't slack off, it's not tough." Cordelia explained. "We don't want useless adventurers taking up space, so limits like this were put into effect."

"Um...I'm starting to get worried" Totori said worried.

"What are you getting depressed over?" Gino said. "We have three years. It'll be easy."

"Gino's right Totori." I said. "As long as we keep going out and doing request, we'll be just fine."

"That's it for me explanations." Cordelia said. "Are you three sticking around the area for a while?"

"We're going back to our village tomorrow." Totori said.

"Isn't that rushing things?" Cordelia asked. "You won't get to see Rorona then. I don't know where she's wandered off to, but she hasn't come back in a long time. As for Alana, you can go see her whenever since she decided to retire."

"I tried going to her workshop earlier, but no one was there." Totori explained.

"Speaking of which, I'm sure you three didn't book a room at the inn." Cordelia said. "Stay the night in Rorona's workshop, or at the restaurant Alana works at."

"At her workshop? Are you sure that's okay?" Totori asked.

"It's fine. You could stay at my place, but I have a lot of work left because of that stupid girl." Cordelia said as she took something out of her pocket. "Here's the key to the workshop."

"Thank you." Totori took the key. "But why do you have the key to her workshop?"

"Huh? Well, because she's too careless. If she carried it, she'd just lose it." Cordelia explained with a tint of red on her face. "That's why I keep it safe for her."

"That makes a lot of sense." Totori said. "But saying that makes me think I'm being rude to my teacher."

"Hey, let's go." Gino said walking to the entrance. "It's gonna be another long carriage ride, so we'll need as much sleep as we can get."

"That's true, and there's no way I want to sleep on that again." I said following Gino.

"Wait!" Totori yelled out. "Well, good-bye."

"Yeah. I'll see you all off tomorrow if I have time." Cordelia said.

With that said, we all left the guild building together. As we left, Cordelia watched us from behind. "So that's Rorona's student...The two seem almost identical to me."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Yeah! We have adventurer licenses now!" Gino pumped a fist up. "Now we can go to areas that we couldn't go into before!"

Totori and Lili, who were walking behind the eccentric blond, just smiled at his reaction.

"Yeah this is a great time to get it. "Lili said as she looked at Gino."Especially since Gino could get us in trouble without the license."

Hearing that, Gino turned around and looked at Lili. "Hey what does that mean?"

"Nothing~" Lili looked over at Totori. "Then Totori, now that you have the key to Rorona's place, want to go check it out?"

As Lili said that, Totori took out the key that Cordelia had given her as she looked at it with a smile. "Yeah, we should."

"The alchemist has spoken!" Lili exclaimed. "To the shop!"

Lili grabbed Totori's wrist and began to sprint ahead of Gino while dragging Totori.

"H-Hey wait for me!" Gino exclaimed as he ran trying to catch up to two.

Eventually he caught up to the two since they stopped right in front of the shop that Rorona owns. Totori stepped up to the door as she placed the key into the keyhole and unlocks the door. After Totori opens the door, she goes inside with Lili and Gino following after.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Totori asked as she entered the shop.

As the three enter, they noticed that inside the alchemy shop, the three can see that inside was a red spotted sofa on the side, many crates laid around the shop, and for the shop to fit an alchemist, a cauldron was set inside.

"So this is teacher's workshop..." Totori said looking around.

"There's a lot of weird stuff here." Gino said. "Isn't this messier than your place?"

"Trust me, Totori's place beats this shop if something explodes." Lili said.

"That's only because Ceci always cleans my workshop for me." Totori explained.

As Totori was explaining, Gino looked around the shop to find many interesting things. "Is this a weapon? And this one is...Woah! It's gotta be a bomb!"

"Hey! Don't touch that!" Totori exclaimed.

As Gino was about to touch something else, Lili grabbed him by the collar and sat him next to her on the couch. "Oh no you don't! You are going to be sitting here next to me so I can see your every action."

"Aw man, you're no fun Lili." Gino said crossing his arms.

As they sat on the couch, Totori continued to explore the shop. "It looks so complex. I wonder if I'll be able to make stuff like that someday."

"Let's look over here." Gino said about to stand up. "I'm sure there's something even better!"

"Don't even think about it!" Lili said pulling him back onto the couch. "Totori had already said to not touch anything."

"But it looked likes as if Totori was going to, and I know that you want to also." Gino said.

"B-But that's because..." Totori looked to the side embarrassed. "Let's just go to sleep, I'm pooped."

"Where?" Gino asked.

Lili looked around as Gino said that. "That's a good point."

"Where? On the bed..." Totori said as she looked around. "Wait, I only see a couch..."

"I don't see any blankets either." Gino headed towards one of doors to open it, only to find it locked. "This door is locked. Does this mean I have to sleep on the floor?"

"How did she live like this?" Totori said referring to her teacher, Rorona.

"If it's like this, I can go see if I can go rest at my aunt's." Lili said standing up. "I remember that she did offer if I need a place to stay."

"I'll just find some corner to sleep in." Gino stood up and walked around. "Go ahead and use the couch."

"Are you sure?" Totori asked looking at Gino.

"Yeah. My blood's still pumping from getting that license!" Gino exclaimed. "I'm going to fiddle around with the stuff here."

"Please don't break anything." Totori said heading towards the couch. "Well, good night."

"Good night Totori." Lili said as Totori fell asleep on the couch.

After Totori had fallen asleep on the couch, Lili took off her jacket and placed it over Totori as she fell into a deep sleep.

"Hey Gino if you want, I can ask my aunt if there is extra room for you as well." Lili said.

"Nah it's okay, it's only for one night." Gino said. "If we are here for more than one day, then I'll take the offer."

"Okay, well then..." Lili headed towards the door. "I'll see you two tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah, night!" Gino said waving her off."

* * *

"Excuse me..." Lili said as she enters the cafe.

"Welcome! How can I..." Alana, who was behind the counter looked up to see Lili. "Oh! Hello Lili, is something wrong?"

"No nothing is wrong Aunt Alana." Lili said sitting across from Alana. "But I was wondering if I can stay with you for tonight?"

"Of course you can! Let me just finish up here okay?" Alana said as she went back to cleaning the dishes. "And you still called me aunt!"

As she was doing that, Lili looked at Alana with thought.

_'I wonder how long Aunt Alana has been doing this for?'_

As Lili was lost in thought, someone had been snapping their fingers in front of her face. "Hey Lili, are you still there?"

"Huh?" Lili blinked before looking to see her aunt was in front of her face. "Oh, are you already done?"

"Nope, but it was too cute to see you thinking so hard~" Alana said as she began to rub Lili's head. "For that, you can call me Aunt Alana."

As that was going on, someone came from behind and stood behind Alana. "Hey Alana, are you done yet?"

Lili looked up just as Alana took her hand off her to see Iksel, owner of the cafe and her aunt's boyfriend, standing behind her.

"Oh hey Iksel, not yet." Alana said turning to him. "Lili came by to ask if she can stay over."

Iksel looked over at Lili with a huge grin. "Of course you can Lili! Alana, you go on ahead and take her home. I can handle it here."

"Thanks Iksel!" Alana gave Iksel a kiss on the cheek before getting her sweater and a bag. "Then come on Lili."

Lili followed after her aunt, but not before turning back to Iksel. "Thank you, and see you later!"

"See you later!" Iksel yelled out as Lili left the cafe.

When Lili exited the cafe, her aunt was there waiting for her. "Sorry, shall we start heading to your home?"

"Of course, but first we are going to stop by somewhere." Alana said as she began to walk. "Come on!"

Lili just gave a confused look but just shrugged it as she rushed behind her aunt. They continued to walk until they stopped to see a young girl closing the door of _R&amp;T Sundries. _

As the young girl finished closing up, they turned to see Alana and Lili looking. "Oh, hi Alana, and the young girl from earlier."

"Hi Holly!" Alana said walking up to Holly. "I brought you some food from the cafe, you know my niece?"

"Yes, she and her group of friends came by the shop earlier." Holly said as she took the food. "Thank you for the food by the way."

Lili walked up to Holly and gave a hand. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Liliana Amara but you can call me Lili."

"Pleasure to meet you Lili." Holly said taking the hand. "As you know, I am Holly."

"So Holly, what are you doing here so late?" Alana asked. "I thought Tiffani usually closes up the shop."

"She does, but tonight someone asked her out so she had to leave early." Holly explained.

"Of course Tiffani got asked for a date." Alana said. "We're lucky that those guys have not seen her drunk yet."

As Alana said that, she and Holly began to laugh about what had been said with Lili looking confused. After a while, they stopped laughing.

"Hey Holly want to walk with me and Lili home?" Alana asked.

"If you are okay with that." Holly said as she stood next to them.

Lili stood next to Holly with a smile. "Of course we are okay with that!"

The three then continued their walks home.

"So Lili, how are you liking Arland?" Holly asked.

"Arland is wonderful, it is way different from Alanya but both towns are amazing!" Lili explained.

"Hey Lili, did you know, Holly actually moved here from a small town too." Alana said. "It is super far from both Alanya and Arland."

Lili looked at Holly shocked as they walked. "Really?!"

"Y-Yes..." Holly said. "Well I came from far away because I wanted to see what was outside of where I lived."

"But didn't you work as a maid for the princess~"

"Huh! You worked with a princess?!" Lili exclaimed. "Why would you leave that?"

"Well to be honest, I didn't want to, but the princess who I worked with pushed me to doing what I want." Holly exclaimed. "She knew that I wanted to go out and see what more is out there for me. I still miss her dearly though, she was such a wonderful princess."

As they continued to walk, Lili got to learn much more from both women.

"By the way Holly?"

"Yes Alana?"

"Has _he_ talked to you?" Alana asked. "It's been a while right?"

"He? Who is He? "Lili asked confused.

Holly, who began to look flustered, started to stutter. "N-No one! N-No one at all! Oh look, I'm home, bye Alana and Lili!"

Before Alana was about to continue, Holly quickly opened the door to the house they stood in front of and shut the door.

"What was that for?" Lili looked confused.

"Ah even after this long she is still awkward about it~" Alana said. "Here let's go inside, we live right next to her."

Alana walked to the house next of Holly's and placed a key into the keyhole opening the door with Lili following behind. The insides of the house were almost like Totori's as Lili looked around. Lili continued following Alana upstairs until she saw her disappear into a room. When Lili herself entered the room, she sees inside a simple bedroom with a desk and window.

"Here is our guest room, but this can be your room whenever you are in town." Alana explained. "We also have some extra rooms so if any of your friends want to stay over, they can."

Lili looked around the room before sitting on the bed. "This room is perfect, thank you Aunt Alana."

"No problem, then now to explain about Holly's situation." Alana sat next to Lili on the bed. "Someone has a crush on her, but Holly doesn't believe in it. Since she was usually busy with helping the princess and now helping Tiffani at the shop, she doesn't notice."

"Someone has a crush on her?" Lili asked. "Who?"

"Well, that person is..." Alana closed in on Lili and...Pinched her nose. "Can't say! You will find out later."

"Ow!" Lili held her nose.

"Then it's time for you to sleep, you're going back tomorrow right?" Alana said at the door. "I'll let you rest now, good night."

"Good night aunt Alana!" Lili said as the door closed.

As Lili is left in the room alone, she decided that it was time to rest. So she took her weapons off and placed them on the desk and tucked herself to sleep.

_'Good night Arland, this is not going to be the only time I'll say it'_

* * *

The next day, Totori, Gino, and Lili were waiting at the spot where Peter will pick them up. Cordelia and Holly were also there waiting with the three.

"Thank you for everything, Cordelia." Totori said handing Cordelia the key to Rorona's shop.

"You're welcome." Cordelia said. "Did you sleep well?"

Gino, who kept stretching his body, looked sore. "I slept on the floor. So I'm sore all over."

"It was my first time sleeping on a couch, so my back's a bit sore." Totori said as her expression looked tired.

"Oh, right. I forgot the workshop was still like that." Cordelia said. "But you'll be camping outdoors a lot as adventurers."

"I feel bad now, because I slept just fine since my aunt offered me a place to sleep." Lili said with a sweatmark.

"Sorry again that Alana couldn't come out to say bye Lili." Holly looked at Lili. "The cafe is super busy today so she couldn't come by."

"It's okay Holly, it was great for Tiffani to let you come out to say bye." Lili said.

As everyone was talking to each other, someone called out. "Hey, let's get going!"

"Oh Peter's here." Lili said turning to the direction.

"Okay." Totori turned to Cordelia. "Bye-bye Cordelia."

"The next time we'll meet is when you update your license." Cordelia explained. "If I see Rorona, I'll tell her to stay put for once."

"Okay, until next time." Totori said walking over to the carriage.

"See you later, shorty!" Gino exclaimed.

Hearing that made Cordelia flustered as she crossed her arms. "What?! Who're you calling short?!

"Whoa, What are you upset about?" Gino gave Cordelia a confused look. "I was giving you a compliment."

Seeing how the situation might worsen, Lili grabbed Gino by the collar as usual and dragged him to the carriage. "Okay you have done enough damage for today, come on let's get going."

"Huh? But Lili..." Gino said confused.

"Hey! Get back here! I'm going to teach you how to talk to your elders!" Cordelia began to exclaimed. "No, I'm going beat it into your brain!"

"C-Calm down Cordelia!" Holly said placing herself between the two.

"She's serious!" Gino just looked shocked as he was still dragged. "Let's get out of here!"

Lili threw Gino into the carriage with Totori in a hurry. "You don't think I was trying to do that! Peter step on it!"

"You sure? All right. Away we go!" Peter said as he started the carriage.

"Hey! Wait!" Cordelia screamed from behind Holly. "Come back here!"

"Good bye Lili, everyone!" Holly exclaimed holding Cordelia back. "See you all soon!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"We're back, kids." Peter called from outside.

Everyone in the carriage stepped out onto the ground as Peter dropped them off in the center of town.

"Finally!" Gino exclaimed. "It felt even longer than the trip there."

"I think it was shaking harder too..." Totori said as she began to sway to the sides. "Urp..."

Lili, who was next to Totori, held her as she rubbed her back. "Are you okay Totori?"

"Y-Yes, thanks Lili." Totori said.

"No problem~" Lili said letting Totori stand. "But, it's good to be back!"

While everyone was standing around talking, Peter came up behind them.

"You remember how we were attacked by a monster on the way there?" Peter pointed to his carriage. "The frame got bent from that. I better get it repaired."

"This carriage was pretty run down even before it got attacked." Gino said.

"Yep, I tried to take it to its limit, but I think it's time I get it fixed." Peter said as he looked at his carriage. "Don't mind me. You guys need to go home. Your families are probably worried."

"Okay, thank you Peter!" Totori said.

"We'll use you when we need to go back to Arland!" Gino said.

"Bye bye Peter!" Lili said.

Gino left by himself to his house while Lili and Totori walked back to Totori's house. When they got to Totori's house, Totori stopped in front of the house as Lili stood next to her.

"It feels like it's been so long." Totori said. "I wonder if Dad and Ceci missed me..."

"Of course Totori, why wouldn't they~?" Lili said next to her.

Lili took Totori's wrist and dragged her to the front of the house before opening it with excitement. "We're home-!"

"-Late!" Totori and Lili heard as they jumped back surprised.

"Ack!" Totori yelled out. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Woah! Is Ceci mad that we came slightly late?" Lili whispered to Totori.

"When are they going to come home?" Ceci ranted to her dad. "I've been cooking them a feast every single day just in case!"

Guid, who was sitting across from Ceci, looked at her calmly. "There there. Calm down. It's great I can eat good food everyday, but my gut's starting to jut out."

"Peter's always such a slacker when it comes to that carriage!" Ceci said. "Sometimes he returns after two weeks, but other times he's gone for months!"

"Getting mad at him won't help you any." Guid said.

"Dad!" Ceci yelled. "Aren't you worried about Totori and Lili?"

"Of course I am." Guid said. "That's not my point."

Seeing that the situation is getting a bit too serious, Lili and Totori walked towards the two.

"Um, Ceci?" Totori called out.

"Everyone...We're back..." Lili said.

"Why are you always so cold to them?!" Ceci exclaimed before looking at the two of them. "What do you think, Totori and Lili?!"

"I dunno..." Totori said. "Dad's always really nice..."

"Guid was nice enough to let me stay here with you guys." Lili said.

"Why are you two on his side?!" Ceci said.

_'She keeps talking to us, but didn't all started because she was wondering where we were?'_

"What's with you two?!" Ceci said. "I'm just worried about you two...! You two?"

"U-Um, we're home..." Totori said.

Lili just gave a small wave as she had a sweat mark on the side of her head. "W-We came back from the trip to Arland..."

"Huh? Huh? Ahhh!" Ceci looked confused before she jumped back surprised. "Wh-When did you two come home?!"

"Just a bit ago." Totori said. "We really tried to hurry back..."

"We came straight here as soon as we got dropped off." Lili explained before walking to her room. "Sorry, I am tired so eat without me~"

Lili heard Totori call her name as she entered her room and closed the door. Lili leaned on her door before sliding down to a sitting position.

"Ah so tired~" Lili said to herself. "But that surprised me, Ceci's yelling."

Lili stood up from the door and walk towards her bed before flopping face first into the soft cushion. "Swo swoft awd fwuffy~!"

Her eyes began to close little by little before they stayed closed making Lili fall into slumber.

* * *

**6/17**

Lili's face scrunch before she slowly opened her eyes to see her bed under her. She pushed herself off the bed using her arms as she stood next to the bed.

"Good morning..." Lili said to herself. "I might as well get ready and head down to town and see if there is anything to do."

Lili began to freshen herself up from the long trip back from Arland before exiting her room. When Lili left her room, she noticed how quiet the house was as she walk to Guid, who was sitting at the dinning table.

"Good morning Guid." Lili said to him. "Is Totori still sleeping?"

Guid, who was drinking from his mug looked at her before placing it down in front of him. "Oh, good morning Lili. Yes Totori is still sleeping. It must have been a long trip..."

"It was..." Lili said as she walked towards the house door. "I'm going to head down to the town to see if there's anything I can do."

"Good luck Lili." She heard as Lili exited the house.

Lili walked down the hill as she saw the town building in her eye sight. As she entered the town, she noticed Peter but without his carriage.

"Good morning Peter..." Lili said walking up to him. "I'm guessing the repair people already took your carriage?"

"Good morning Lili, yeah they did." Peter said turning to her.

"This sucks, how are we suppose to go to Arland now~?" Lili said as her body went to a slouch position.

"I dunno, walk?" Peter stated.

Lili just looked at Peter with a deadpan look. "A-Are you kidding..."

"If you can't walk there, just wait until it's fixed." Peter said.

"S-So bascially..." Lili began to recompose herself looking at Peter. "You just want us to just wait for your carriage to be repair..."

"Yeah bascially~" Peter said. "But I'll tell you when it's fixed, so just wait patiently~."

"Yeah yeah..." Lili said waving him off as she walked away. "See ya Peter."

Lili walked off as she walked through the town. When she was coming nearby Gerhard's bar, she noticed a familiar guy leaning in front of the building.

"Oh, good morning Gino." Lili said waving at him.

Gino, who noticed Lili, stood up and looked at her as she came his way. "Good morning Lili."

"What are you doing?" Lili asked.

"I was hoping on seeing if we can go back to Arland soon..." Gino explained. "So I went to talk to Peter..."

Lili, knowing what's coming, looked at Gino with a deadpan face. "Let me guess...He said either wait patiently or walk there..."

"Yea, how did you know?" Gino looked at her confused.

"I just went to talk to Peter as well and he told me the same thing." Lili said composing herself. "That Peter, he could have said it in a nicer way."

"Now now, this is Peter we're talking about." Gino said.

"True." Lili said.

It got quiet after that as Gino leaned on the building as Lili did the same next to him. After a few minutes, Lili noticed Totori walking towards them.

"Oh~ Good morning Totori~" Lili called out to her.

"Hey, morning Totori." Gino said. "What's up?"

"Good morning Lili, Gino..." Totori said. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to come with me on my explorations..."

"Of course!" Gino exclaimed. "You can count on me!"

"I'll go..." Lili said pointing a thumb at Gino. "Someone has to keep this guy out of trouble~"

Gino looked at Lili confused. "Hey~ Since when did I get us into trouble?"

"Remember just a while ago you got yourself stuck against those four barrel squirrels ..." Lili said looking at him with a smug look.

"O-Oh yeah..." Gino just looked away scratching the back of his head with a sweatmark down the side of his head.

"Thank you Lili and Gino." Totori said. "I'm going to see Gerhard for a little bit, so if you guys can wait here..."

"I'll be here, and..." Lili grabbed the back of Gino's shirt. "I'll make sure he doesn't wander off as usual."

"Hey Lili, you don't have to pull that hard!" Gino said turning to her. "I still have to breath you know!"

Totori just laughed at the sight of the two before entering Gerhard's. Lili just stood next to Gino as she held the collar of his shirt making sure he does not leave to anywhere. Totori cam out of Gerhard's just to go check out Pamela's store.

"Hey Lili..." Gino said. "Can you please let go, I can't breath."

Lili just looked at him as she continued to hold him. "I don't know, what if you run off to venture without us?"

"I won't! Trust me." Gino looked at her while putting his hands together. "If you do, I will pay for a meal at Iksel's next time we're at Arland."

"...Okay." Lili said removing her grasp on Gino's shirt.

As he was freed, he took in many deep breaths before looking back at her. "Ah, thank you. A second longer and I would have died."

"Just remember next time we're at Arland, you owe a meal for me and Torori." Lili said.

"Huh! Why two?!" Gino looked at her shocked.

"Of course, Totori needs her energy." Lili explained. "So you will pay for two meals when we're there okay?"

"Fine~ This sucks~" Gino said.

"Lili! Gino!" A voice called out.

The two turned to see Totori running over to them.

"Oh Totori, are you ready?" Lili asked.

"Yeah." Totori said. "Let's go."

Totori, Gino, and Lili got together and left to the edge of town.

"All right!" Gino said. "This'll be our first quest as real adventurers."

"Yep! Our first adventure!" Totori said.

"The first of many adventures for sure!" Lili said.

"Where do you two want to go?" Gino asked. "It should be a real journey! We could go to the desert, the jungle...even a volcano!"

"Hey Gino..." Lili looked at him with a deadpan face. "This is our first adventure for many, not the first and last for us."

"Let's try going to where we couldn't before." Totori explained. "We can see those other places eventually."

"A-Are you serious Totori?" Lili gave the same face to Totori.

"And when is that gonna be?" Gino said. "Let's go now!"

"We don't even know where those are." Totori said. "We became adventurers, but we're not magically stronger."

"Totori is right about that..." Lili said with a normal face. "If we go to those places for the first time, we're dead."

"Fine. Let's hurry up and get stronger so we can go to those places!" Gino said.

"Life would be easy if everyone could get stronger so quick." Totori said.

"Yeah, but that is not possible, it takes time to be strong." Lili said.

The conversation just stopped as the three began to look to the map and decided to begin their adventures at the Western Plains which is close by and the best place to start getting strong.


End file.
